Love Story
by dress up romance xx
Summary: For as long as she can remember, Bella’s parents have hated the Cullen’s. She has been forbidden to ever speak to them and that’s perfectly fine with Bella. But what happens when she gets stuck at a party with Edward for three hours? How much can change i
1. How it all began

_**Love Story**_

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Twilight.

_Summary_: For as long as she can remember, Bella's parents have hated the Cullen's. She has been forbidden to ever speak to them and that's perfectly fine with Bella. But what happens when she gets stuck at a party with Edward for three hours? How much can change in such a short period of time? Will Bella discover that there is something worth fighting for when it comes to Edward Cullen?

_Author's Note_: This story was inspired by Taylor Swift's song Love Story. Every time I hear that song, I think of this story. Gotta love Tswift! I really hope you enjoy it!

_September 8th, 1996_

Today is my first day of kindergarten! I'm going to make a whole bunch of friends and color lots of pretty pictures and play in the sandbox. I'll show everyone the pretty pink dress my mommy bought for me and the new Keds I got just for today. And I can tell all my new friends how still I sat while I mommy brushed my hair nice and straight. I wonder if they'll think my hair looks pretty? There's gonna be so much to do, I'm gonna wanna come back tomorrow. And I can! Today is gonna be a fun day!

"Bella," my mommy knelt down next to me. She worries about me all the time! She is always telling me that I need to be careful, that I can't eat sand, not to cross the road without a parent, and all of her silly rules. "You're gonna be a good girl today for your teacher, right?"

I nodded my head. "Of course mommy! I'm always a good girl."

"Yes you are." She smacked a kiss on my cheek before standing up. "If you need me, just tell Mrs. Clearwater and she'll call me to come get you!"

"I'll be fine mommy," I told her. I didn't need her to come get me early, I wanted to stay here! "Go to work, I'll see you later!"

"I love you sweety," she said before finally walking away. I waved after her for a long time before turning around to look and see who was there. There were a few girls sitting at a table together, coloring pictures. I skipped over to them, ready to make new friends! They all had on pretty dresses and their hair was nice and shiny. We'd be the best of friends!

"Can I color with you?" I asked in the sweetest voice possible. The girl in the middle of the three looked at me. Her hair was much longer than mine and very yellow. I wasn't sure if I liked it. She had on a purple dress that looked a lot like mine, but she had on a cool jean jacket as well. I'd have to ask mommy to get me one of those!

"Ew no," she said. I looked around, wondering if she said ew to me. "Yes I'm talking to you! We don't want to play with you."

"But you don't even know me," I told her. How could she not want to play with me?

"We don't want to," she said back quickly. The girl on her right nodded her head fast, her black curly hair bouncing around her face. The girl on her right didn't look at me, she just continued her coloring.

I felt tears welling up in my eyes. Why were they so mean? "Why not? What did I do?"

"You're ugly and I don't like your shoes," the yellow haired girl explained. "We only play with pretty girls."

"I'm ugly," I asked, my lip quivering. My eyes were wet now and I could feel my cheeks getting wet too.

Before the yellow haired girl could answer, someone spoke up, "You're not ugly."

I turned around to see a boy a few inches taller than me smiling at me. His eyes were greener than grass and his hair was the color of pennies. He was really cute.

"Yes she is," the yellow haired girl said.

"Stop being mean Lauren," another girl said. She came and stood right next to the boy. She was much shorter than him, with dark black hair that almost went past her butt. She had the same pretty green eyes. They were really pretty people. "Come with us, you don't want to talk to a meany butt like Lauren."

I looked at the girls who were mean to me then back at these two kids. The girl who was nice to me stuck her tongue out at Lauren before grabbing my hand and pulling me off. She dragged me over to a table in the corner, the boy following behind us. At the table, three little kids were already sitting there. I was very nervous. I didn't want these kids to be mean to me.

The black haired girl stopped me right in front of this new group, "Is she ugly?"

They all looked at her, then stared at me. After a very long time, the yellow haired girl spoke. She was really pretty, her hair a much prettier yellow than Lauren's. "No, she's got really pretty eyes."

I touched my eyes. They were just brown. That was the color of dirt. She had the pretty eyes; they were blue just like the ocean and the sky. "Thank you."

"I like your shoes," a boy with black hair said. I smiled at him, happy that he liked them. He smiled back, his cheeks getting big. He reminded me of a teddy bear.

"And your dress is very pretty," a blond boy said. His voice was very soft, but he looked really nice.

"You guys are nice," I told them. Why did I think they'd be mean to me? "I'm Bella, what's your names?"

"I'm Alice," the girl who dragged me over announced happily. She hugged me quickly and then pulled away, holding onto my hand. "Wanna be best friends?"

"Yea!!" I had a best friend! I couldn't wait to tell my mommy. She'd be so happy. I made five friends my first day of school!

"I'm Rosalie, but I like to be called Rose," the yellow haired girl said. Rose was a good name for her, because roses were pretty and so was she. "This is my brother Jasper," she pointed to the blonde boy. I'd never heard a name like that before, it sounded cool.

"Hi Bella," he waved. I waved back, happiness filling up my whole body.

"I'm Emmett! Alice and Edward's brother," the curly haired boy announced proudly.

"I'm Edward," the pretty boy told me. "And I don't think you're ugly at all. I think you're very pretty."

I blushed bright red. "Thank you."

"It's only the truth," he explained before sitting down with the group. I sat next to him and Alice sat on my other side. We all started coloring together at once.

I spent the entire day with my new friends. It turns out Edward, Alice, and Emmett were triplets. That means their mommy had them all at once. Rose and Jasper were just twins. The only bad thing about being a triplet or a twin meant they shared birthdays, at least that's what Alice told me. She said she'd rather her birthday be on a different day so they could celebrate just for her. I didn't see a problem about it. They were lucky to have brothers or sisters. This made me jealous about them, I didn't have any siblings. It was just me, mommy, and daddy. I wanted a little brother. Maybe if I tell mommy, she'll give me a brother!

It was time to go home, but we were allowed to play until our parents came and got us. So Alice, Edward, Emmett, and I were playing in the sand. Rose and Jasper went home early. Their mommy had to take them to the dentist. I felt bad for them, I hate the dentist. When my mommy came, we were playing in the sandbox. Edward and I were working on a sandcastle, while Alice made a sand angel and Emmett pretended he wasn't eating sand, even though we knew he was. At first my mommy had a big smile when she saw I made friends, but when she got closer her smile turned upside down.

"Bella, what are you doing?" She shouted at me. What was going on? Why did she sound so mad? Did I get my dress dirty? I didn't mean to! "Get out of the sandbox!"

I scrambled out of the sandbox quickly and ran over to my mother. "What do you think you were doing?"

I looked at her. I was so confused. "I was playing with my friends."

"They are _not_ your friends Bella," she exclaimed.

"They're my best friends' momma, they're so nice," I told her. I was about to tell her about the mean girl and how Alice and Edward stood up for me, but mommy cut me off.

"They are bad kids! Do you know who they are?" She asked me. I shook my head yes. Of course I knew them! "Obviously you don't. Remember daddy and me telling you that you aren't to play with the Cullen's?"

"Yea, you told me a hundred times," I reminded her.

"Those _kids_," she gave them a dirty look, "Are the Cullen's."

My face dropped. My mommy and daddy hated the Cullen's. "But why? They are so nice mommy. I love them."

"You are never allowed to play with them again."

My eyes were wet again. This wasn't fair! "But mommy!"

"No buts," She grabbed my wrist and began to drag me out of there. I turned around to see all three of them looking at me with sad eyes. None of us understood why we couldn't be friends. I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye before my mom pulled me inside the school. She rushed to grab my stuff. We were almost out the door when a woman stopped in front of us, her hair looked like Edward's.

"Renee Swan," she said in a very sweet voice, "Long time, no see. I didn't know your daughter was going here. I heard you Charlie were having money problems. I assumed you were home schooling? That would probably be your best bet; it would be such a shame if little Bella here didn't make any friends."

"My daughter," my mommy pulled me closer to her. I hid behind her leg. This lady didn't seem very friendly. "Is none of your concern. Whatever you heard was lie, we're doing fine. Bella will be attending all year."

"Yes, I'm absolutely sure she will," the lady said before she rolled her eyes. "Are you done wasting my time?"

"You're the one standing in my way," my mommy then pushed past her and I scurried in front of her and went to run out the front door. I just wanted to go home. "Tell your little brats to leave my daughter alone, or else I'll write them up for harassment."

"As if they'd ever want to play with her, she's poor, remember?" It looked like my mommy wanted to lunge at that lady and rip her hair out, but we left instead. As soon as she buckled me up, we drove home. She looked at me in her mirror.

"If I hear you're playing with those Cullen kids, I will take you out of school and keep you home. Do you hear me? They're bad people," she looked very serious. I nodded my head as my eyes got wet all over again. I wanted to play with them, they were so nice and we had fun. But their mommy was so mean. Why was she like that? What did we do to her?

"I'll never play with them again."

"You can't talk to them either. I don't want you anywhere near them. If you can, don't even _look_ at them. They are scum Bella. You're so much better than them. Do you understand me?"

As much as it hurt to say, "Yes mommy. I'll never look, talk, or play with the Cullen's again. They're bad people."

"Good girl, you always listen."

And she was right. I _always_ did."

_Present day – February 18th, 2009_

I woke with a start, falling right off my bed, my blankets and sheets coming with me.

_Why was I dreaming about that again?_

Before I even got a chance to think about my dream, a loud knock came to my door and then I heard honking outside. I didn't even say come in but the door opened anyway. Leah barged into the room. I stared up at her from my heap on the floor. She smiled at me momentarily before she noticed my current state. I wasn't even remotely ready to leave for school.

"Bella," she groaned. I didn't even try and protest my case. This was the fourth day in a row that I over slept. "What's been up with you girl? You're so out of it lately."

_Was it because of the dream?_ This was the fourth night in a row I had that dream. Every time I woke up, I was incredibly late and totally out of it for the rest of the day. This couldn't really be a considered a coincidence anymore. But it didn't even make sense. That happened so long ago and didn't even matter now. So why was I still dreaming about it?

I wasn't sure if I should say anything to Leah. She'd heard this story so many times, she was probably sick of the whole matter. _Don't bother her with it_, I decided after a moment or two of thought. "I think I'm getting sick."

"Wanna skip?"

I looked blankly at her. Leah _never_ skipped school. She was a straight A student, our class president, and president of the National Honor's Society. Skipping school was her taboo. She'd never do it, in a million years. Anytime Jake and I skipped together, she scolded us and told us we weren't going to graduate. So the thought of her wanting to skip, it was absolutely absurd. She thought something had gotten into me, what the hell got into her?

"You're real funny Clearwater," I laughed, taking off my pajamas before stumbling around to find something to wear. I settled on some light jeans and a black Northface. I threw on a pair of UGGs and turned back to her. She was looking at me, as if I'd insulted her. "What?"

"What do you mean I'm real funny?"

"Do you remember who you are? Leah, you've only missed five days of school since we were in kindergarten," I explained to her. "You were in the hospital for the first one, you got really sick another day, and the last three days were after your dad died," her eyes dropped to the ground. I felt bad for mentioning that, but I had to emphasize my point. "You yell at me whenever I do it, so what makes you think I'd believe _you_ want to?"

She rolled her eyes at me before sighing dramatically. "I always do what I'm told. It's really tiring you know, trying to be perfect all the time. I just want to blow off some steam. I mean, it's really nice out today and its Friday. When does that ever happen here in Forks? Besides, you and Jake have skipped before I want to see what its like."

My ears perked up when I heard her mention Jake. _That was it_! I smiled slyly at her, "And this has nothing to do with you spending time with Jake, right?"

There was no denying Leah's love for Jake. She was far too afraid to say anything to him because she was afraid it would ruin their friendship. She was also convinced he was in love with me. I didn't see it, but according to her the signs were all there. She was crushed by this. She had been with this guy Sam a few years back, but he wound up leaving her. For her cousin. After that, it was really hard to get her back to the same happy Leah, but we did it. Jake spent a lot of time with her, down at First Beach and I was convinced that's what made her fall for him. She never flat out told me, but I just could tell. She looked at him with big doe eyes whenever he wasn't paying attention. She did anything to spend time with him. And she owned half of his sweatshirts, claiming she always got cold whenever we were at his house. I could tell they would date soon enough; I just wasn't sure what I'd do when that time came. I'd turn out being the third wheel and that was never a fun feeling.

"I didn't ask him to skip with us," she finally said, avoiding my eyes. I knew very well why her lack of eye contact meant.

"But you want me to," I said, completely able to see her train of thought.

She beamed brightly at me. "Would you please Bells? I'd love you forever!"

"I thought you already did?" I said with a laugh.

"Of course I do! Best friends for life" I only laughed at her before leaving my room and going to the bathroom. I started to wash up when Leah caught my attention again. I looked at her; she looked like she just remembered something very important. "What's up Lee?"

"Totally forgot, but Mike Newton is having a party tonight," I looked at her as if she had three heads. Since when was she friends with Mike Newton? "He's in my Bio class! I was talking to him about something when he told me. He said we _had_ to be there."

"He said we _had_ to?" I wasn't really sure if going to Mike's house would be a good idea. My parents were bound to find out and they'd get pissed as hell. There would be a chance of the Cullen's going and they'd automatically assume I was breaking the rules and talking to them. It would be really stressful for me the entire night and I probably wouldn't enjoy myself.

I was ready to say I wasn't interested when I looked up to see Leah smiling brightly at me. She looked like she was ready to beg me to go. This was _nothing_ like her. Leah never bounced up and down. She didn't get happy about parties. And she never thought about skipping school. But she looked so excited, I felt bad for even thinking of saying no.

"Okay, as long as you cover me all night," I told her.

And then she did a very un-Leah like thing. She wrapped her arms around me and starting jumping up and down. I contemplated checking her pupils to see if someone had drugged her, but I decided against it. There was some reason for all this happiness and she'd tell me eventually.

"You're going to explain this sudden rebellious streak of yours," I told her when I was finally done getting ready.

"Sure, sure," she said before dragging me out of the house. I only sighed when I saw Jake sitting in the front seat of the Rabbit.

"We're late as fuck," he said, looking at the watch on his wrist. Leah hopped in front next to Jake and I slid into the back seat. I leant in between them.

"Change of plans," I announced. "We're skipping!"

Jake looked from me to Leah. When she saw Leah beaming at him, his lips curved up into a gigantic grin. "We've finally cracked Leah!"

"You have," she giggled. "So, what should we do?"

We all sat in thought for a moment before I got a brilliant idea. I always knew what to do when we skipped school. "Cliff dive!"

Leah nodded her head enthusiastically, "Sounds great, right Jake?"

"Did you drug her Bells?" He turned to me, I shook my head no. "I'm liking this little outburst Leah. It's defiantly hilarious!"

"Thanks?" She said before slapping his hand, "Drive, I'm not getting any younger."

"Okay, okay," Jake said. He put the car in drive and we started on our journey to First Beach, laughing the whole car ride there.

Despite how much fun we had during the day, I couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that my dream had something to do with tonight. Was it some sort of omen?

_What do you guys think?! You won't find out why the Cullen's and the Swan's hate each other for a little while. All the Cullen kids will be in the next chapter, this chapter was basically introductory. I hope you enjoyed this, let me know what you think. _


	2. Confessions

_**Love Story**_

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Twilight.

Author's Note: You guys are bangin! I love you, please keep up the wonderful reviews. I'm happy you guys enjoyed last chappy so much, I enjoyed writing it. A lot of you asked if the story will follow the song's outline and it somewhat will. I don't want to give away too much! With that much said, here's chapter 2!

I had been right. _The Cullen's did come.__  
_  
As soon as we got to the party, Leah kissed my cheek and zoomed off to find Mike. Because I could tell Jake was jealous about that, I allowed him to leave my side and follow Leah. I hadn't spoken to them since. Once I was alone, I made my way into the crowd. Everyone was bobbing to the music. A lot of girls were dancing in nasty, club like ways. I just ignored them and snatched an unopened beer off a table. I was barely able to enjoy my drink when I spotted _them_. Like always, they stuck together. Emmett had his arm around Rose while she giggled on with Alice, who was currently sitting in Jasper's lap. Edward was off to the side, in a conversation with a pretty red head I did not recognize. They were the social elite. Why wouldn't they be at this party?

The fact that they just lived their lives; ease free is why I no longer found it hard to hate them. They clearly had the same rule to never speak to me, but they didn't suffer. They had perfect lives, each and every one of them. Emmett was the school's favorite athlete, being our Quarterback in the fall and basketball captain in the winter. As if he didn't already have it made, he had a drop dead gorgeous girlfriend that everyone envied. Alice was president of the Fashion Club, one of the captains for the cheer squad, and voted Everybody's Friend (aside from _mine_ of course). Then there was Edward. He could have any girl he wanted, literally. All the girls were dying to be with him, but he ignored them all. Instead he was the brainiac for the family. He had a 4.0, got into all the top colleges, and was the teachers' favorite student. But he wasn't a nerd. He had friends, tons and tons of friends. He used to play soccer, but he quit after our sophomore year and took up...the piano. Everyone was shocked and had it been any other guy they would have been pissed, but they weren't. Because he is Edward Cullen and everyone loves him, just like everyone loves his siblings. It was quite sickening how _loved_ they were.

I sighed heavily and tried to think of something that didn't make my insides churn. Like, how strange my best friend was currently acting. Leah never told me why she was so happy, but I let it slide for now. She was truly enjoying herself.

After I sat around wallowing for a while, I decided to get up and move around the party. It was then that I saw Leah standing with Jake at the beer pong table. They were teamed up against Mike Newton and Tyler Crowley. By the looks of Leah jumping up and down, hugging Jacob, I could assume they were winning. Either that or she was piss ass drunk. Seeing as we got here two hours ago, this was a definite possibility.

Since the only two people I would bother talking to by choice were busy, I decided to go outside for some fresh air. However, when I went to make my way out to the porch, I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw another beer pong game going on outside. There were tons of people lounging around, smoking and drinking. I groaned and went towards the front; I'd just hang around out there for as long as possible. Too bad there was a group of like ten guys passing around a joint out front. Seeing as I wasn't in the mood to be harassed the front was no longer an option.

I came back into the house and moved around, looking for another drink. If I was going to stand being here for the next few hours, I was going to have to get some drinks into my system.

It was easy to find the makeshift bar, because there was a huge line of people holding Solo cups. I waited my turn in line, as patiently as possible and after ten minutes it was finally my time to 'order'. And because God hates me, Alice Cullen and Rosalie Hale were serving drinks. Both wore matching, short bubble dress, Alice in green with silver accents while Rose wore red with gold accents. There were laughing wildly, looking as if they were in a beer commercial. I bit back my gag as I tried to slyly get out of line without having them notice.

"Bella," Alice's soft voice chirped. "Don't you want anything?"

I ignored her, because it was what I knew best and dashed off. I don't know why, but suddenly I was running up a set of stairs. I had to get away from her, away from the situation. How dare she talk to me? Doesn't she know better? I hated her. I hated the Cullen's. I hated the fact that everything I did had to be thought out. I hated how because of them, I had no friends. All I had were Leah and Jake and it wasn't fair. What did I do to have my life turn out like this?

Before I knew it, I was at a door that lead me outside. I slammed it shut and sighed heavily. _Finally, I was alone.___

"Um," I almost broke my neck to look up and see a pair of emerald eyes staring back at me. _Or not.__  
_  
"Oh my god," I murmured before backing away, my hand frantically searching for the door. Why the hell were these Cullen kids cornering me? Once I had the handle in my grasp, I tried to open the door but it wouldn't. After the fifteenth attempt at opening the door turned back towards Edward, panic clearly drawn across my face.

"It locks from the inside," he told me simply.

_Mommy walked me into school today. ___

_"Sit down Bella," she told me. Because I was a good girl, I did as I was told. Mommy left my side and went to talk to the teacher. I laid my head on the desk and waited for mommy to be done. I sure hope the teacher was nice to mommy, because mommy didn't seem very happy. And when she isn't happy, I'm not happy.___

_It wasn't long before mommy came back. I looked up at her, a big smile on my face. I wanted to make mommy smile but she didn't. Instead she had an upside down smile. "Bella, do you remember what I told you?"___

_"I'm not to suppose eat sand?" I asked her. She told me that on the car ride here when I told her some smelly boy named Jimmy was eating my sand castle yesterday.___

_"Bella," she said in a mean voice. My lips started shaking and I could feel my eyes getting wet. Mommy kept being mean to mean ever since yesterday. "This isn't a time to be funny. I told you that you're not allowed to play with the Cullen's. Remember?"___

_"Yes," I told her, but the wetness didn't stop coming from my eyes. My shoulders started shaking and I balled my little fists up. I couldn't cry at school! All the kids would laugh.___

_"Good girl," mommy said before she gave me a kiss. ___

_I was alone again.___

_The rest of my class came later and all the kids paired up and started playing. I stayed by myself for a while, but then I saw Edward sitting alone. No one was playing with him, just like no one was playing with me. I felt really bad when I realized that. Did they not like him either? I forgot the rule mommy told me and walked over to Edward. ___

_"Hi," I waved. Edward was very nice to me yesterday. We'd have lots of fun building with the blocks together. I was smiling very big when he looked up at me. Except Edward didn't look at me the same as he did yesterday. He had an upside down frown. What did I do? Why was everyone looking at me like that? Why were they all so mean?___

_"My mommy told me I'm not allowed to play with poor people," he said in voice meaner than Lauren's. Before I got a chance to ask him why he was so mean, Edward stood up and pushed past me. I couldn't stop crying after that. I ran into the bathroom and locked the stall door.___

_It didn't make sense. I liked the Cullen's! They were very nice, at least yesterday they were. We had fun playing together. Why did mommy not want me to play with them? Why was Edward's mommy so mean? I didn't do anything wrong. Did I?___

_"Are you ok?" Someone was knocking on the bathroom stall.___

_"Go away," I cried. I didn't want to be made fun of anymore.___

_The person didn't go away. Instead, they crawled under the door and stood in front of me. It was a little girl with skin much darker than mine; it was a very pretty tan color. She had black hair, just like Alice, but her hair was in two braids that stopped at her tummy. She had on the prettiest white dress I had ever seen and was wearing it with pink sandals. We had the same color for eyes, but hers didn't remind me of dirt. She was very pretty. And that scared me. All the pretty people were mean to me.___

_"Please don't laugh at me," I said as I pulled my knees up to my chest. I put my head against my knees and prayed for this girl to go away. She didn't. But she didn't laugh at me. ___

_"I'm sorry," she told me. Her hand rubbed my arm, like she was trying to make me feel better. I looked up at her and she smiled big at me. She was missing one of her bottom teeth. "Don't cry."___

_"I can't help it," I told her before I could think of a lie. She continued to pat my arm.___

_"What happened?"___

_"Everyone has been so mean to me here. I don't wanna go to school anymore, I hate it hear. I have no friends," I told her. ___

_"I'll be your friend," she smiled at me again.___

_"Will you be my friend tomorrow too?" I asked hopefully.___

_"Yea! And the day after that, and the day after that, and then after that, and a million more days after that," She went on and on, "Well be best friends forever. I promise!"___

_"Pinky swear?"___

_She stuck her pinky out. I hooked mine with hers and we swore to be best friends forever. And we have been ever since._

_  
_I never spoke to Edward after that day.

I hated him. It sounds immature to hate someone after only speaking to them twice, but I could care less. My mother had been right about the Cullen's. They were all bad people.

I had no intentions of speaking to Edward. Instead I turned around and pulled out my cell phone. This problem would be easily solved. I just had to call Leah. She'd come up, unlock the door and save me.

I hit number 2 in my speed dial and waited for Leah to pick up. But she didn't. The phone continued to ring and ring and ring until her voicemail picked up.

_Hey it's Leah, I must be busy. Leave a detailed message and I'll get back to you as soon as possibly. Thanks!_

I groaned and waited for the beep. "Hey Lee, it's Bella. I'm stuck upstairs on the roof. Can you please come and unlock the door? I'm calling back, you probably didn't hear your phone go off. Kay, thanks!"

Except, when I called again she didn't pick up. Nor did she pick up the 3rd, 4th, 5, 6th…30th time I called. I left her five more voicemails before giving up. Either she lost her phone or she was too drunk to understand where the music was coming from. Regardless, there was no way I was getting through to her. Which sucked, since I know Jake left his phone in the car.

"No one picked up when I called either," Edward announced from across the roof. I turned around to glare at him. He was lazily spread across a bench, tossing a lighter from one hand to the other.

Because I was so furious with myself getting caught up in this, I was angry with Leah for not answering my calls, angry at Jake for leaving his phone in the car, and with Edward for being here, I did something I shouldn't have. I spoke.

"I find that hard to believe," I replied dryly.

He looked surprised to hear my speaking to him, but he quickly recovered. "How is that?"

I must have been high, because there is no way I would continue a conversation with Edward Cullen if I were in the right state of mind. Which I clearly was not, seeing as I opened my mouth to answer him.

"Oh come on, don't try and tell me you called your friends and _none_ of them picked up. How stupid do you think I am?"

"I don't know, how stupid are you," he quipped, a smirk dangling on his lips. I sneered at him and crossed my arms over my chest. How dare he insinuate that I am stupid!

"What is that supposed to mean?" I shouted, taking a step in towards him. He was not intimidated.

He lolled his head back and let out a burst of laughter. I frowned at him. I didn't find this situation the slightest bit amusing. "I'm being serious, answer me!"

"Relax," was his only reply. My jaw tightened and I found myself on the edge. _What a fucking prick._ Who does he think he is? Telling me to relax after he calls me stupid? As if! He's lucky I haven't torn his head off yet. _Yet_.

"Don't tell me to relax! You can't tell me what to fucking do," I shouted, taking two more steps in towards him. I was itching to smack the stupid smirk right off his face. How dare he look at me like that? What a douche.

"You're right," he agreed, standing up from the bench all together. He took a step in towards me and now we were only a foot or so apart. I cringed at the realization. "What is your problem?"

"You are!" I shouted at him angrily.

"How am I your problem?" He said, a hint of annoyance crossing his face. _Finally, _I hated him being so relaxed and laid back about this_.___

"You're here!" I screamed, my face getting red with anger. "And I'm stuck with you, for God knows how long and you're acting as if it's nothing! You don't even give two shits. You're just sitting around, making stupid fucking jokes while I actually try and do something productive, like finding a way to get the fuck out of here."

"If I remember correctly, which I always do," he smirked at me and I grimaced back, "I was the first person up here. Everything was nice and peaceful until you burst in and starting screaming and shit. So, all of this is your fault."

"My fault? Are you fucking nuts," I practically spat. This kid was absolutely out of his mind. "None of this is my fault. If it's anyone's fault, it's you and your fucking family."

"Don't talk about my family," He growled angrily.

"If your dumb sister hadn't been harassing me to drink, I would have never run up here and if you had been smart enough to tell me the door locks from the inside _BEFORE_ it closed, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Which makes this whole situation YOU AND YOUR FAMILYS FAULT!!"

During our little feud, we'd been getting closer and closer. So close, that we now stood practically chest to chest. Well, I was much shorter than Edward so my face was at his chest, but I was staring up at his stubborn face. God, he is the biggest idiot alive.

Instead of yelling back at me, he grinned. It wasn't your average goofy grin, nor was it a sexy smirk. It was an adorable, crooked grin that took my breath away. _Hold up...did you just call Edward Cullen adorable? You are high Bella Swan, high as a fucking kite.___

I immediately stepped back. He took a step towards me. I took one more back...right into a wall. _Fuck my life._ "You know," Edward smirked at me before continuing, "You're kinda sexy when you're angry."

It took all my strength to not smack him clear across his face. He really knew how to be a fucking jerk. I bit my tongue, counted to ten, and then replied. "Get away from me."

"Did I say kinda?" He asked, dropping his head so it was mere centimeters from mine. "I meant to say you are _definitely_ sexy when you're angry."

"I said," I ground out, losing all of my patience. "Get away from me."

"Aw come on, don't act like that," he said, flashing me a grin. I could not contain my rage. I punched him right in the jaw and moved around him when he doubled over in pain, grasping my aching hand to my chest.

"You're a real fucking jerk," I shouted at him as I ran to the door. It was still locked, as I expected, but that didn't stop me from banging on it and shouting for someone to save me. No one came.

We sat on separate sides of the roof for a long stretch of time, completely silent. I didn't dare look at Edward but I felt his eyes on me. _The entire time_. I tried my hardest not to pay him any attention. But after what felt like hours of being stared at, I couldn't take it anymore. I turned to see he really was staring at me. He didn't turn away and blush, he just kept glaring at me.

"What," I asked him angrily.

This got his attention. He shook his head, as if he'd been zoned out and then looked up at me, his eyes much different than before. Earlier, when we were yelling at each other, he looked angered, but right now, I couldn't help but think he looked a little remorseful. I suddenly felt bad for snapping at him.

"I'm sorry," He mumbled. His voice had been so soft; I thought I was imagining it.

"Wait, what did you say?" I asked, wondering if I had heard right.

"I said I was sorry," he said, staring directly into my eyes. I turned my head away, not entirely sure why. I just couldn't look him in the eye.

"Oh," I mumbled, turning my body away from him.

Everything was silent for a long while and then Edward let out a sigh. On instinct I looked back at him. It must have looked like I was glaring at him, because he tossed his hands up and asked me, "Why do you hate me so much? What did I do to you?"

My mouth opened, ready to give him an onslaught of reasons as to why I hated him…but nothing came out. As I tried harder and harder to think of a real reason as to why I hated _him_ and not his _family_, I couldn't think of a single thing. We'd spoke twice and that was over twelve years ago. I would sound like a harpy bitch if I tried to say he was mean to me in kindergarten. Besides, the more I thought about it…the less that situation mattered. Why did I hate him so much? Had I let my mothers words get to me so much that I replicated her hatred? I shuddered at the thought.

"I don't hate you," I said slowly, trying to figure out how to word myself properly. "I just hate this," I gestured between us. "I hate the fact that I'm not supposed to talk to you. I hate that our parents hate each other. And I hate how it doesn't seem to affect you and your family, but I live with it every single day."

"You think I'm not affected by this?" He looked at me incredulously.

"Your life is perfect Edward," I said with a laugh. Was he honestly trying to argue me? "You get perfect grades, every one loves you, you have amazing talent, and your siblings at just as talented. It's like you're a friggin' super family or something."

"You're hilarious Bella." It was the first time I heard him say my name and for some reason, it sent shivers down my spine. Where were these feelings coming from? I'd known Edward for forever, since when did his voice give me _shivers_? I must be drunk and high. "You think we're perfect? At least we put on a good show. You've got it made. You're an only child, so you don't have to fight for your parents' attention. They love you for who you are. You get grades just as good as mine; you just don't have to flaunt it for your parent's sake. You're not seen as a trophy rather than a child. You have friends who actually care about _you_."

Despite the fact Edward just confided in me, I couldn't help but laugh. "Yea, my friends care so much. Look where I am?"

"I'm here too."

Awkward silence.

Because I had long since broken the family rule, I moved closer to Edward in a sign of truce. I wasn't going to scream at him anymore. I just wanted to know what he was talking about before. "Were you telling the truth about your parents?"

"You don't even know the half of it," he groaned, stretching his arms over his head and leaning back into the bench.

"It can be that bad," I tried to get him to say more. I'd never heard about this. From what I heard and saw, Edward's parents were perfect and so was he. They all loved each other and respected one another. That's what everyone believed. "You have Alice and Emmett."

"They're half the problem," he said vaguely. I wanted to poke him for being so evasive about this. Why couldn't he just flat out tell me it? _You're not friends. You're enemies. That's why._

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know, they just," he said loudly. He wasn't yelling at me. It seemed like he was letting out the anger her felt towards them to me. I nodded my head and waited for him to go on. "They just don't see things they way I do. They love the competition for mom and dad. I don't. I'm not a show dog. I'm their kid."

"Have you tried telling them that?" I asked, moving to the bench. He swung his legs down and faced me. We were sitting pretty close for enemies, but neither of us seemed to mind. I wanted to know more.

"You try talking to my parent's it is impossible," he laughed, but it sounded much to bitter. "My father is much to busy with his practice, while my mother is constantly trying to one up yours. They have no time for my petty conversations."

"They called you petty?" I asked in a disgusted voice. I had thought I didn't get along with my parents.

"Something along the lines of that," he said with a nod.

"I'm sorry," I blurted out quickly. Once I realized what I said, I covered my mouth up. He saw this and laughed.

"Sorry for what?"

My cheeks turned bright red at this. "For misjudging you."

"I guess I misjudged you too," he said resting his hand on mine. I didn't pull it away and I don't know why. "I was a jerk before."

"You kind of were," I said and he frowned. "But I was a bitch."

"I wouldn't go that far," he laughed. I giggled along side of him. I had to be high. Or dreaming. There was no way, in hell that I was sitting on a roof top with Edward Cullen giggling and practically holding hands. We were natural born enemies who hated each other. This could never work out. We'd both wind up getting hurt. But as much as I yelled at myself on the inside, I could not find the will to move away from him.

"This is nice," he said softly. I turned to look into his eyes. It was like I was looking at him for the first time. I was trapped in those emerald pools. _Oh god_, I mentally slapped myself. I need to hold my composure. We were much too close and he smelt way too good. I had to get out of here or else I'd wind up doing something I will certainly regret.

"What?" My mouth answered, despite the fact my brain was screaming at it.

"Sitting with you, just talking," he said as if it were the easiest thing to guess. I shrugged. It was kind of nice. "We should do it more often."

"We can't," I said, finally gaining back some of my composure. He didn't actually think we could continue this, did he? He knew better.

"Why not?" I had a million reasons why we couldn't. But like before, I had no way of saying them. I just stared at him, gaping like a fish. "See, we can. We just have to hide it…for now."

_For now?_

I meant to ask him what that meant, but the door burst open and both our eyes immediately fell upon the person who barged in on this private moment. It was Leah. She stumbled forward, a weird look on her face. Jake came through the door right after.

"HOLD THE DOOR!" Edward and I shouted simultaneously.

Jake stopped and grabbed the door. I stood up instinctively and moved towards my friends. I wasn't sure how much they saw and whether or not they'd remember it tomorrow. I turned see Edward standing directly behind me, almost possessively. I washed that thought from my head. What the fuck was I thinking? This had been such a bad idea. I should have just stayed on my side of the roof and waited for my friends to come save me. What was I thinking, talking to Edward Cullen? I was clearly not in the right state of mine.

"I told you that you had good friends," Edward whispered in my ear before brushing past me and out the door. I just stared after him, completely unsure of what just happened.

"What the hell was that?" Jake questioned me when I came to stand next to him. I just shrugged at him.

"Looked like you guys were gonna kiss," Leah said through hiccups.

Because I had no explanation for them, and I did not even want to consider what Leah said, I completely avoid their questions and comments. "I think we better get the drunk mess home."

I knew this wasn't going to be forgotten, but I needed a little time to figure out what I was going to say. What did happen?

_Sorry I didn't post this yesterday! I've got the flu :/ So I've been bed ridden since Friday night, which put a damper on my weekend. Next chapter should be cute and dramatic! And it will be posted Sunday night, promise! Do you guys like those little flash backs? I hope you do, cause you're going to be seeing a lot more! Love you guys, review!!_


	3. Seating Arrangements

_**Love Story**_

_Disclaimer__: I don't own Twilight._

_Author's Note: You guys are adorable. Thank you for the well wishing! I'm feeling much better now; I'm going to get Twilight tonight. SO HAPPY!_

I went to school, like I did every other day. Well, every day except last Friday. And the few other times I've skipped. Plus those days were I've been absent because I actually was _sick_.

My point is, I went to school today and it was supposed to be just a normal, average day. The say started out as usual. I woke up, Jake and Leah picked me up. We ate our bagels on the quad and waited for the bell to ring and then split up for the day. Everything was going as it always did. Math sucked, because math was the worst subject _ever_. Gym sucked, because I suck. Spanish sucked, in a different language. English was okay because Leah and Jake were in that class and we were reading _Romeo and Juliet. _Economics was bearable because I sat next to Angela and she was nice enough. And then Biology was supposed to suck, but that class didn't start off normally.

As soon as I walked into class, I could tell something was different. I just couldn't figure out what.

"Hello Ms. Swan," Mrs. Ortiz said while standing up. Ms. O, as we've all come to call her, is just a little older than a student teacher. But she looks like a student, a very pretty student. She's got hair that's long, like Leah's, and very tan skin and bright blue eyes. All the guys think she's hott as hell because she has big boobs and nice hips. I personally think she can do to lose a few pounds, but apparently I'm the only one who thinks so. She has taken over for our old teacher because he got injured in some freak rocking climbing accident. I hadn't been paying attention when she told us. I hated the last guy; he was a dick and called on me all the time, as if he wanted to embarrass me. Too bad I was a genius when it came to Biology. Well, too bad for him that is.

"Hey Ms. O," I said as I made my way towards my usual desk all the way in the back. Ever since Ms. O came, I just sat in the back and went to sleep during this class. It was the first class in years that I had with any of the Cullen's. And of course, it was with Edward.

"Um Bella," Mrs. O cleared her throat. I turned around to look at her, a look of clear annoyance worn upon my frame. Did she honestly think I cared? "Did you not read the bored when you came into class?"

I gave her a look but proceeded to read it anyway, to humor her.

_Please do not take your regular seats when you enter class today. I have assigned you all seats to assure you are all focused on my class and not your social lives. Thank you very much._

Assigned seats? Were we in fifth grade again? I turned a curious eye towards her. Was she serious right now? "This is a funny joke Ms. O, but I don't think a lot of people are going to laugh at it."

"Good, because they're not supposed to laugh," she replied, moving back towards her desk. She grabbed a green binder off it and came back to stand next to me. She glided a blood red nail across the binder and stopped at my name. She looked back up at me with a smile, "Third row, third table back."

I laughed directly in her face. This had to be some ridiculous, pathetic joke. No one had assigned seats anymore, not even in junior high. This lady must be on crack if she actually expected high school seniors to abide by this. Ten minutes later, I found myself to be wrong. _Everyone_ abided by the seating chart.

I groaned and dropped my head onto my desk. At least I had an empty seat next to me. I don't know what I would do if she stuck me next to some talkative asshole. I'd probably gauge my eyes out with a pencil after stabbing them.

Ms. O began her lecture on the human anatomy but was rudely interrupted not even a third of the way in. Everyone's eyes were drawn to the door to see who saved us from yet another boring lecture. I internally groaned when I saw Edward stride in, his cheeks red and his hair a complete mess. Did he think we couldn't tell where he'd been?

"Nice of you to join us Mr. Cullen," Mr. O said in a sharp tone. Edward went to reply, but was quickly cut off. "Because you and your classmates find it hard to focus in my class, I have assigned you all seats. Your seat is," she scanned the green binder for his name, "is right next to Ms. Swan."

The whole class went silent. Everyone knew about the feud between the Cullen's and my family. Well, everyone but Ms. O. The whole class watched Edward's reaction. Instead of acting disgusted or disgruntled, he shrugged. But I could have sworn I saw a slight smile grace his lips. He glided over to my side and dropped his stuff onto the table. He took his seat and automatically turned it towards me. What the hell?

I glared at me. "What are you doing," I muttered under my breath. There was no way I could be caught speaking to him in public.

"I have an assigned seat next to you," he stated simply, his voice much too loud for a private conversation. "Not my fault, nor is it yours."

"Turn your chair forward then," I ground out. He only smirked at me. "Edward!"

He remained silent, but did not turn his chair back. Instead he became incredibly focused on Ms. O's lecture, taking notes and listening to every word as if they were her last. I rolled my eyes at him before I began doodling in my notebook. After a long while, Edward pushed his notebook towards me. I stared down at the offensive object, then up at its owner. He nodded his head towards it. I shook my head at him. There was no way were passing notes. When did he get this idea that we were friends?

"Stop it, you're going to get us in trouble," I commanded him. He pushed the notebook closer to me. I groaned loudly before finally paying it any attention. I looked down at the lined paper to see his neat handwriting scrawled across it.

_Act as disappointed as you want Bella, I know you're secretly excited about having me as a lab partner for the rest of the year._

I glared at his words, completely horrified. We were not going to be lab partners! I couldn't simply ask him this, so I scribbled across the page.

_You. Are. Not. My. Partner._

And then shoved the book back at him. He read this and chuckled to himself. He gave me an amused look before answering. I glanced around the room to make sure _no one_ was paying any attention to us. He wrote down his own reply and edged the book back to me. I glared at him before reading his words. There was no way I was passing notes with Edward Cullen.

_Believe me, we are partners. For the rest of the year! Which means we have to talk to each other, from now on. Isn't that wonderful? We don't have to think up an excuse now!_

Think up an excuse? What the hell was he talking about? We weren't going to talk to each other, so why would we make up excuses? We were going to go about our regular lives and pretend Friday night never happened. Wasn't he aware of that?

_Listen Edward. I think you got the wrong idea about Friday. We're not friends. We are _enemies_. We hate each other. It's meant to be that way. Things are better if we just live our lives like that. I'll talk to Ms. O after this class and explain that to her. You'll have a new partner tomorrow and you can go back to perfect world tomorrow. You can pretend Friday never happened. You can smile now._

I slid the book back to him. He read my words quickly. He went to write me back but stopped, to read over what I wrote once more. His mouth was pulled into a tight line while his brows creased. It took him much longer than I expected to write me a reply.

_You're so clueless Bella. Tell me why this is such an appealing trait about you?_

Instead of writing him back, I gaped at him. Did he even read what I wrote? "Stop dicking around Edward."

"It was just an honest question," he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

I was beyond annoyed at this point. Edward _clearly_ got the wrong impression about things. Just because I had a brief mental lapse and spoke to him, did not mean I was going to do it again. We were not friends. We are enemies. How hard was that to grasp?

"I'm talking to Ms. O after this period," I growled before moving as far away from his as possible. Edward only chuckled at my expense, saying nothing further. When the bell rang he got up from his seat, but not before sliding me a folded piece of paper. I eyed it warily. _This is not good. I cannot be passing notes, talking to.., no; I can't be doing anything with Edward. _He gave me an encouraging look and I just rolled at my eyes. _You have no idea what you're getting yourself into Isabella Marie Swan,__ I scolded myself__._ I stuffed the note into my bag and motioned for him to leave. After flashing me that damn crooked grin, he swept off and out of the room. I just glared after him. A moment or so later, Ms. O noticed I had stayed behind.

"Everything alright Ms. Swan," She asked, putting her notes down on her desk and making her way towards me. I stood up and sighed. I had no idea what to say to her. Did I flat out tell her about my parents or did I make up a lie about why I _could_ not sit next to Edward. Seeing as I was a terrible liar, I decided to go with my first option.

"You're new to Forks, right Ms. O?" The more detail I added to my story, the more likely it was of getting her on my side and moving my seat as far away from Edward as possible. She had to understand.

"I moved here when I was hired, so yes I'm very new," she explained. I went to speak, but she cut me off quickly, like she had done earlier with Edward. I had not anticipated that. "However, I am not new to teaching. I may be much younger than all your other teachers, but I demand the same respect. I do not appreciate you talking in my class, and I especially do not like that you aren't paying the slightest bit of attention to what we're learning. It's not suiting to your character."

Suiting to my character? Who the fuck does this lady think she is? She's been here what, five minutes, and she knows me well enough to judge my character? She can shove that bullshit right up her ass. She does not know the first _thing_ about me! _Too bad I can't say any of this to her face_...

So I force a smile and try my best to suck up to her. "I'm sorry about talking and I was trying to listen, honest," I grinned at her when she gave me a look that clearly showed she didn't believe me. "But I stayed behind to talk to you about this. Since you're new, you don't know some things about Forks that other teachers do know."

"I'm sure I know everything that is required of me Ms. Swan," Ms. O informed me, flicking a strand of her ebony hair over her shoulder. She dusted nonexistent dust off her skirt before straightening up to glare at me. I cringed. Teachers could be so scary. "I am not seeing a point in this conversation."

"Listen lady," I finally said. I was done with being nice and trying to suck up. This bitch was coping an attitude, trying to put me in my place, and I was _not_ about to have that. "You obviously don't know much about our little town. Because if you did, you would know that my family _hates_ the Cullen's family. And if you knew that, then obviously you wouldn't have sat me directly next to Edward Cullen, when my parents have instructed all my teachers to seat me as far away from the Cullen's as possible," she nodded her head at me and I smiled, then proceeded to stand up and leave the class while I spoke. "So now that we have that cleared up, I think Edward should get stuck way up front and I'll move back to my regular seat next to Melanie—

"You are staying next to Mr. Cullen," Ms. O said abruptly. I stopped dead in my tracks.

"Are you serious?" She nodded her head one as a 'yes'. I gaped at her for a moment before I recovered. "I'm going to have to tell my mother. She'll come in here and cause you all kinds of hell, believe me you don't what that. She's a nuisance."

"I don't care Ms. Swan," Ms. O said while she elegantly rose. She brushed past me back towards her desk and began to fix her things. "I will not let some childish rivalry affect my class. You will keep your assigned seat and that is final."

"But—

"No buts," she stopped me. "No go on, you're very late for you next class."

I had never lost against a teacher before. _Never. _She walked out of the class room and I stared after her for a long while, unsure of what to do. After gaining some, not nearly enough, of my composure I gathered my things and made my way into the hall. I had early dismissal, so Ms. Know It All was wrong. I wasn't late to anything!

As I grumpily left her class, I collided with a wall and fell right onto my ass. I just had the best grace. I started swearing uncontrollably as I got up and collected my things. When I heard someone laughing at me, my head shot up directly. It wasn't a wall I walked into. It was Edward..._God damnit.__  
_  
Instead of asking what he was doing, I simply made my way to leave. I was not going to have a conversation with him, because this was not happening. I had not been dumb enough to ever talk to Edward. I knew where that got me.

_"Isabella Marie Swan, come down here immediately," Mommy shouted from downstairs. ___

_I looked at Ms. Daisy and Mr. Winkle, "Don't drink your tea, I'll be right back!"___

_They did as I told them and sat still. I stood up and ran downstairs to see mommy and daddy sitting together at the kitchen table. Mommy had the phone in her hand. I grinned at them before running over and sitting in daddy's lap. Like he always did, daddy began to play with my hair. Daddy isn't very good at putting my hair in braids, so he just plays with it. Mommy always does my hair.___

_"Yes mommy?"___

_"I just got off the phone. Can you tell me who I spoke to Isabella," mommy asked me. I shrugged my shoulders. Mommy had lots of friends. It was too hard to try and guess who called her. "I was on the phone with Ms. Cullen."__  
_  
_I gulped and looked up at daddy. He had an upside down smile, but he didn't look as mad as mommy. ___

_"Can you tell me why Ms. Cullen called me Isabella?" Mommy asked me. I shook my head no. I don't think I know why she called. '"I think you're lying to me Isabella."__  
_  
_"No," I tell her.__  
_  
_"Well, I guess you wouldn't remember going to talk Edward Cullen today, then would you?" She asked me. Her voice sounds so mean. She doesn't sound like my mommy. ___

_"I did," I tell her slowly. Her eyes get smaller as she looks at me. I move back, closer to my daddy. He puts his arms around me. At least daddy loves me.__  
_  
_"How dare you Isabella! You went against my rules, after I told you time and time again not to speak to those children. You are forbidden from being their friends! How many times must I tell you? What must I do?"__  
_  
_"I'm sorry," I say to her as I start crying. "I didn't mean to do it, it was an accident."__  
_  
_"Well you need to learn your lesson. I don't want any more accidents to happen," she says before standing up. "I'm taking Mr. Winkle away."___

_"No don't!" I shout at her.___

_She looks at me as if I'm the naughtiest girl alive. "Do not shout at your mother. I am taking Mr. Winkle and he is going to go to a good little girl who listens to her mother."___

_"You're not gonna give him back?!" I shout again, completely horrified. She has to give Mr. Winkle back! He's the only stuffed teddy I can sleep with. No other teddy is as soft or cuddly as Mr. Winkle. I've had him since I was born; daddy's mommy gave him to me before she died. He's my very favorite.___

_"Of course not," mommy said. She stood up and started walking out of the kitchen. "You were very naughty Isabella and you need to learn that there are consequences for naughtiness."___

_I pushed myself out of my daddy's arms and jumped onto the floor, running to be in front of mommy. She nudged me aside and started going up the stairs. I grab onto her leg but she pulls it out of my tiny hands. She's already in my room by the time I manage to run up the stairs. I run in after her, but she's got Mr. Winkle in her hands. She takes off his tea party hat and jacket and tosses them on my bed. ___

_"Mommy please, I'm so sorry. Leave Mr. Winkle, I'll do anything," I beg her. She only shakes her head at me.___

_"You should have thought of that before you disobeyed mommy," was all she said before walking out my room and slamming the door shut, taking Mr. Winkle away from me forever. And I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye._

I'd forgotten about Mr. Winkle up until now.

I have no idea how I managed to forget him. I cried for days, possibly weeks, after my mother took him away. Dad tried to get him back for me, he honestly did try but there is no winning with my mother. She sold Mr. Winkle to a pawn store and I never saw him after that. It was one of the most depressing times in my childhood, but it taught me something. Never disobey Renee Swan. And for the longest time, I never did. That is until last Friday...

"You're such a klutz," Edward murmured as he followed behind me. I spun around to glare at him.

"Stop it!" I shouted angrily. What the fuck did he think he was doing? Where the hell was this coming from? "We aren't friends Edward. We're never going to be! Just leave me alone. I'm going to have my mom come and make Ms. O switch our seats and we'll never have to talk again."

"I thought you said you didn't hate me," Edward said, his eyes cast downward. He looked so dejected that I instantly felt awful. I didn't mean to hurt his feelings, honestly. It's just...well, it's just too hard. There's no way we can be friends. He knows it too. Which makes this very confusing. Why was he trying?

"I don't," I said, my voice much softer than before. "But we can't keep doing this Edward. I can't be friends with you."

"Why not?" He demanded. Why not? Our parents hate each other. They forbid us from doing the very thing we are currently doing. If we were friends, they'd disown us. How was he not getting this?

"Have you even listened to any of the things I've said to you," I asked while glaring at him. "We're a mortal enemy, that's why."

"No, our parents are," he said tossing his hands up in the air. I just frowned at him. He knew it wasn't that simple. "I'm sick of living by my mother's rule. I'm allowed to be friends with whoever the hell I want to be. I'm going to be 18 in a few months and by then, she can't tell me what to do. I don't want to keep living the way I have been. I've felt like this for so long and the other night just made it all that more real"

I sighed heavily. I couldn't imagine what Edward's home life must be like. Being a triplet has got to be hard to begin with, but being a triplet in the Cullen family, well then forget about it. Edward didn't get a healthy amount of attention, nor did he get the right kind of attention. I hated this ruling just as much as he did, but I wasn't about to fight it. I only had a few more months here and then I was off to college, where I would be allowed to do whatever the hell I wanted. I wasn't about to risk that freedom by doing something stupid now.

"You are crazy," I simply said before walking away. He was right on my tail.

"How?"

"You think you can get away with something like this. That is crazy, thus making you crazy," I explained. He only shook his head at me.

"I'd rather be crazy than a follower," he taunted me.

"I'm not a follower, I'm just not an idiot," I retaliated. He was getting on my nerves. I stopped and crossed my arms over my chest. "Besides, why do you think I want to be your friend?"

He smirked at this. "If you didn't, you wouldn't have spent all this time telling me we couldn't be friends. You would have said 'We're never going to be friends' and that would have been it."

"We're never going to be friends," I looked him directly in the eye and repeated his words to him. As much as I wanted there to be truth behind them, I found myself doubting it. For some strange and very indescribable reason, I wanted us to be friends. I like the idea of talking to Edward about what my life has been like, what I like to do, and I was dying to know more about him. Was it so bad that I found him to be interesting? And...really cute? Yes. It was very, _very_ bad.

"You're a terrible liar," he said after a moment's silence. I scowled at him before turning away and starting off towards my car. He grabbed my hand and it sent shivers up and down my arm. I didn't pull away. Even after he pulled me close to him, probably much closer than he meant to. "Just read the note I gave you Bella."

I was too stunned by our closeness to answer him. Edward let me go and I suddenly missed the contact. I wanted to feel his skin again, soft and smooth against mine. I wanted to feel his warmth once more. I shook my head quickly. _Where the hell did that come from? Stupid teenage hormones._ Edward only laughed at my expense before walking away from me. I envied him and his ability to just walk away. He was lucky I wasn't good with words, or else I'd have something smart and witty to throw back at him. I guess I was going to have to go home and read his note to figure out what the hell was happening.

_Since I posted last chapter late, I posted this early!_

_So what did you guys thinks? PLEASE!! If you are reading, REVIEW and let me know what you think. I love to hear your feedback. Like, what did you think about the flashback? The character interaction? Why do you think Edward wants to be friends? Why is it that Bella fighting Edward, but she secretly wants to be friends too? COME ON! ASK ME STUFF! I like see that you like this, but I LOVE reading reviews that show you're really into my work and want to know more. Be critical, but in a NICE way if you must =]_


	4. Giving In

_**Love Story**_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight._

_Author's Note: I love you guys. 100 million percent! I have such amazing fans and I'm so happy all of you are enjoying this. Also, I have another story that I'm writing. It's called Story of My Life! Go check it out, it's up to chapter five now. There is a prequel to it, called It's Just a Bet, you should read that first. STOM has set posting day of Friday, where as this story has a set day of Sunday. If I finish the story earlier, I will post it earlier however its day for posting will still be Sunday. Make sense? ALSO! Please, if you read this and you like the chapter or you have anything you feel I _need_ to know, REVIEW!! The more reviews I get, the faster I write & update._

The drive back to my house was excruciatingly long.

As I pulled into our U-shaped driveway, I noticed my father standing on the porch. Charlie had on his usual home attire, a t-shirt and a pair of baggy jeans. His arms were crossed over his chest while he stared out into the street. I threw my car in park and hopped out. My eyes immediately followed my dad's gaze.

"What are you looking at?" I asked as I jogged up the front steps. He shook his head, in an attempt to clear it, and then looked at me. His lips curved up into a slight smile.

"Nothing in particular," he said offhandedly, "I'm just waiting for the guys to come over."

"First Mariners game of the season, huh?" I asked. He nodded his head and we both laughed, I knew my father well. I walked past him through the open front door and into my living room. It was empty, as I expected, but there was food set up everywhere and the furniture was arranged so that you could see the TV from any angle. I couldn't help but laugh at my father's love for baseball.

I dropped my backpack by the couch, but not before removing the note Edward had given me. I looked behind me to make sure my father didn't see me grab it. He was still out on the porch, paying me no mind. I quickly jogged up the stairs and ran into my room, slamming the door shut behind me. Had my mother been home, she would have run up here so fast I wouldn't have gotten a chance to lock the door. She has this hatred for when I slam things. She says it's very rude and unladylike. I couldn't give two shits about being ladylike.

I honestly had no intentions of reading Edward's note right away. I tried to prolong the wait, but after I slipped into my sweats and realized I had no homework, it was all there was left to do. My room was already crystal clean. With a heavy sigh, I settled into my bed and looked upon the offensive sheet of paper. His neat handwriting was scrawled all over the page and I was suddenly envious. How was it that he had such nice handwriting and mine looked like chicken scratch? I heard his voice as I read.

_Bella,_

_I know you think this is a bad idea, us being friends and all, but I want you to hear my out._

_The other nigh, on the roof was one of the best nights I've had in a long while. It may sound strange, but I've never opened up like that to anyone else. You're the first person I ever told about my family. I don't want to talk to anyone else about it. Because no one else actually cares. My friends aren't people that I would depend on. They just hang around me because it's what we do. I'm popular and they want to be popular. We don't actually care for one another. But you, you're not like that. We've been enemies this whole time, and yet you listened to me on that night. You cared about what I said. I saw it in your eyes. As much as you want to say you hate me, I know you don't. You just as sick of being enemies as I am. I'm done listening to this stupid rule. I'm going to be friends with who I want to be friends with, and that's you Bella. You're so much different than anyone I've met before. You intrigue me. _

_Now, I know you haven't defied your parents since we were little kids, and I'm not asking you to directly defy them. I just want you to give us a chance. I just want to make an honest friend and I believe that's what you will be for me. A good and honest friend. Just give me a chance, please Bella? That's all I'm asking._

_Edward_

I looked at his note and then reread it. _Five_ _times_.

What was I going to do?

Do I agree to be friends, but demand we keep it a secret? Or do I outright defy my parents and openly be friends with Edward? I could always pretend none of this ever happened and ignore him. I could throw the letter away, have my mother force Ms. O to change our seats, and go back to my regular, easy life style. That option made the most sense. It meant I was a good daughter, who listened to her parents and didn't want any trouble. It would be the easiest thing for me. But it wasn't what I wanted. I didn't want it at all. I wanted to go against my parents. I wanted to give Edward the benefit of the doubt. I wanted to learn all there was about him. I wanted to be his friend. And all because of that _one_ night on the roof top.

God damn it. We couldn't do this! We could never be friends. We both knew that, and yet we continued to keep deluding ourselves into thinking we could. We both knew very well this would end terribly, but we pretended like nothing was different. I couldn't do this. I would not let myself get hurt. I was a strong, independent woman. And that's _exactly_ why I had to do this. I had to be independent of my parents. I had to stop doing what they said, especially when I had no reason for why I was doing it. They never, _ever_, told me why they hated the Cullen's. And I was done listening to a rule that made no sense. None of this made any sense anymore.

I was done being my parents little bitch. I was going to give Edward a chance and pray it did not come back and bite me in the ass.

When I finally got to Biology on Tuesday, I had no idea what I was going to do. My gut told me to tell Edward that this would never work out. But my heart was very adamant on being friends. I wasn't sure which one to follow. That was until I saw his face.

He came to class late, again, but only by a minute or so. I was sitting at our desk, reading over my homework for math, when he barged in. I immediately looked up to see him standing there. His face was pale white and he had these awful bags under his bloodshot eyes. It looked like he didn't sleep. His clothes were all messy and his hair looked like it needed a comb.

Had this been any other person, I would be laughing my ass off at this point. He looked like a total mess. But this wasn't any other person. This was _Edward_. He never left his house looking anything less than a 9. He took very well care of himself. And seeing him look so different meant something was wrong. I cringed at the thought of that. He was my _friend_ and that meant I cared about his pain.

After Ms. O yelled at him for his tardiness, Edward hastily took his seat beside me, turning his chair towards me like before. I looked to the front to make sure Ms. O wasn't paying attention. She wasn't, she was writing something on the board. I scooted a centimeter closer to him in order to whisper.

"Is everything okay?" I asked him quietly. He shook his head 'no.' I sighed. Did his vagueness mean he didn't want to talk about it?

"I'll tell you about it later," he whispered back when he caught sight of my exasperated look.

"Later when?" I replied quickly.

"You're done with classes after this period?"

"Yea," I answered. "But I didn't drive. I rode with Leah and Jake."

He flashed me that crooked grin and my breath stopped right in my throat. I had to cough loudly to cover it up. There was no way I was letting Edward know that his adorable little smile _got_ to me. "Sorry, I had something in my throat."

"I have water," he said before he went to dig around in his bag. Before I got a chance to tell him I was fine, he produced a bottle of Fiji water. I smiled, looked around to see that half the class was asleep or totally zoned out, before I accepted the water.

"Thank you," I said in a slight whisper. This was so strange, having Edward as a friend. I wasn't sure if I liked it. _Okay that's a lie; so far he's been a good friend. Even if it has only been like five minutes._

"But, back to what you were saying," Edward said quickly, "that's perfect. I drove by myself today, so just come home with me."

I'd been sipping on my water when he said this, so I immediately began to choke. My eyes bugged out of my head as I turned to look at him. Was he serious? I couldn't go to his house! His parents hated me! We'd get into so much trouble!

My little choking fit grabbed the attention of the entire class. Ms. O stopped her stupid, dumb lecture to glare me down. Everyone waited for me to breathe again. Edward was staring at me with a pained expression. I took in a long breathe and then let it out.

"Are you done?" Ms. O finally asked, her foot tapping away. I only nodded my head, too shell-shocked to have a witty comeback.

Everyone continued to stare me down for a few moments, so I sunk into my chair and rested my head on the table. I was not about to sit here and let everyone make me feel anymore awkward. It wasn't much longer before the bell rang. I slowly got up and noticed Edward was waiting for me. I rolled my eyes and took even longer. No one could notice us together.

"You're such a slow poke," he finally said, poking me in the side to make me move faster. I squirmed at his touch. "Come on Bella."

"We are not going to your house," I told him simply before brushing past him on my way out of the class. I did not fail to notice Ms. O glaring us both down. She probably hadn't forgotten about our conversation yesterday and how I said I hated Edward. From her point of view, it probably didn't look like that right now. So I now must look like a big, fat liar. How great.

Edward was right on my tail. "What are you talking about?"

Before anyone got a chance to catch us talking, in public, I grabbed him by the wrist, opened the first door by me and pulled him inside. And because my luck is _superior_, we wound up in a closet. A tiny, cramped closet. That smelled like moldy cheese. How fucking great.

There was a moment of awkward silence, which was all there could be seeing as we could not even see each other. I went to move my hands on my hips, but wound up grazing across some part of Edward's body. I instantly pulled my hands behind my back and stared up, at what I hoped was his face. This was beyond awkward. I really could be an idiot at times.

"We're in a closet," Edward said slowly, proving himself to be quite the Captain Obvious. I rolled my eyes silently at him. "No need to roll your eyes Bella."

"You saw that?" Did he have super human eyes of something? I mean, _damn_, if he saw me roll my eyes, well then that's just crazy.

I could sense him shrug. "I can only assume you would, the statement was kind of asinine."

"Who uses the word asinine?" I quipped, laughing lightly at his expense. He joined in on my laughter.

"Clearly I do."

"Well, then clearly you are a loser," I said back.

"A loser that you locked yourself in a closet with," he reminded me quickly. I frowned up at him. How was he so quick to respond? I mean, I was using some good material here. _Okay, no I wasn't. But that didn't mean he was allowed to totally own me at this little fake-fighting match._

"Please tell me why I did something so stupid again."

"Maybe because you secretly find me attractive and wanted to make out with me in the closet?" He said, taking a step in towards me. I instinctively stepped back, knocking over a broom, directly into his face.

After her muttered a bunch of curses words, Edward flung the door open and we both stumbled out of the closet and into the hall. Lucky for us, no one else was around.

"Remind me to never joke around with you like that again," Edward said while rubbing his nose.

"Im so sorry," I began to sputter more and more apologies. When he turned to me, I stood on my tip toes and placed my hands on his face. He placed his hands over mine and stared back at me. I was so shocked by his gentle touch that I didn't move. I didn't know what to do.

"It's okay," he finally breathed. He dropped my hand and started walking. I followed behind him silently. This was awkward, yet I had enjoyed every moment I'd been in his company so far.

We walked in silence to his car. No one was in the parking lot, except for a select few underclassmen that were skipping. None of those potheads would remember this, so I didn't feel anxious about slipping into the passenger's side of Edward's Volvo. However, I was a little nervous when I remembered him saying something about going home after school.

"So we're not actually going to your house, right?"

He just laughed at my expense before peeling out of the parking lot and taking off like a rocket. My attention was instantly averted. He drove like a maniac!

"Slow down," I demanded. His laughter filled the car. I groaned loudly before leaning over to play with the radio. I scanned through the stations for a while before I heard the music to one of my favorite songs of all time. I cranked it up and began to loudly sing Here We Go by NSYNC.

It wasn't until I got to the last line in the final chorus that I realized I was not alone, in my own car. No, I in fact, was sitting the passenger's seat of Edward Cullen's car. This meant that I just completely embarrassed myself. There was no coming back from that. I shut off the radio instantly and dropped my hands into my lap and stared out the window to avoid Edward's gaze.

"That was—

"Shut up," I growled, not daring to look at him.

"I was just going to say it was adorable," he replied nonchalantly.

"I said shut—wait, what?" I said, spinning around to look at him. He had one hand on the wheel, the other hand resting on his own knee. He was looking at me with that same grin and I bit my lip. It wasn't going to work this time! _Well, it wasn't going to work 100% this time._

"As much as I dislike NSYNC, I don't think I'd mind listening to them if it meant you were going to sing," he explained. I just gaped at him for a moment. "Honestly, that was kind of cute."

Was he calling me cute? _Of course not_! He was saying the way I sang was cute, which I can imagine to be true. I had a tendency to sing in a high-pitched baby voice, which some guys found adorable. Edward was obviously one of those guys. He just thought my singing was cute, that was all. There was no way he possibly felt attracted towards me like I felt towards him. _Whoa, I'm attracted to him now?_ I mean, yea he's a good looking guy. With really sexy, deep green eyes that go on for days. And his hair, God his hair was undeniably sexy in that way that made him look like he'd just got done fucking someone. I'd never seen hair so messy yet so beautiful and in a shade like that, a mix of bronze and gold. It was to _die for_. And then his body…oh his body was a wonder in and of it's self. He had those big, broad shoulders you see on swimmers. While he had those washboard abs seen on TV. And I'm not gonna lie, but I was totally impressed by his height. He stood nearly a foot taller than me. But that was it. He just had a nice body, face, eyes, and hair. I just liked those, that didn't mean I was actually attracted to _him_. I was attracted to his…features. _Yea, that's it_.

"Thanks, I guess," I replied awkwardly. This was still very new to me. With Leah and Jacob, I didn't give two shits about whether they liked my singing or not. But with Edward, I was too embarrassed to even speak. I had just made a giant fool of myself. I bet Edward was driving me home right now, wondering why in the name of hell he invited some crazy chick into his car.

"I hope you don't mind that I'm taking us on a little road trip." It was then that I noticed we were driving away from Forks. I turned to him in a sudden panic.

"Where are we going?!"

"You didn't honestly expect me to take us anywhere our parents or any of their friends could see us, did you?"

No, of course I didn't.

_REIVEW PLEASE!! I know that I didn't have any flashbacks in this chapter, but that's because it wasn't necessary. However, you'll be getting some more soon. And some parental action! A lot of you are asking why the Cullen's and the Swan's hate each other. Believe me, you'll find out soon enough! So go ahead and click that REVIEW button if you wanna see where Edward and Bella go and what happens. What does Edward have to tell Bella? Find out, NEXT CHAPTER!_


	5. Why Are you Doing This?

_**Love Story**_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight._

_Author's Note: LOVE YOU GUYS!! Haha, you guys are so awesome. A lot of you made guesses about where Edward was taking Bella. I guess you're gonna just have to read and find out, wont you?!_

_A lot of you guys are saying Bella curses too much & is a little too bitchy. Well, for one I actually hate Bella in the books. I think she doesn't have much of a personality. But I will try and keep her a little closer to character, but in this story you have to think about how she's grown up. Her mother is awful, her father doesn't stick up for her, and she has been restricted by this rule up until now. Believe me, falling in love changes everyone :)_

I expected the car ride to be fairly silent. Of course I had been _wrong_.

Edward asked me question after question after question. It was like I was in an interrogation. He asked about my childhood, my best friends, what I liked to do. His list of questions was never ending. After he started talking about school, I was growing tired of the focus of our conversation. I honestly wasn't that interesting.

"Tell me about yourself," I finally said. He laughed but said nothing. "Oh come on, that's not fair. I just let you grill me for an hour and a half. It's your turn to talk!"

"Over dinner," he replied. I turned to see him smirking evilly at me.

I glared at him. "What do you mean over dinner? Where are we going Edward?"

"It's a surprise, I already told you that Bella," He said staring ahead of him at the road.

"I hate surprises," I said for what felt like the 80th time. He only grinned. I sat back against my seat angrily and glared forward. This was such a bad idea. He was a guy, which meant he didn't understand the realm of gossip and how far it traveled. My mother knows everybody, so it was very likely that where we went, someone would notice us. I was going to be in _so_ much trouble when I got home.

My attention was brought back to what was going on when we came to a stop. I looked up to see we were parked in front of a little Italian restaurant. I didn't recognize it, which might be a good sign. My stomach growled audibly. I blushed, completely embarrassed by my traitorous appetite.

"I was hoping you'd be hungry," Edward said with a laugh before climbing out of the Volvo. I quietly resented Edward for having such a nice car while I was stuck driving an old pick-up truck. Not that I didn't love and appreciate my car, I just felt a slight pang of jealousy as I slid out of the car. It was _so_ nice and my truck…wasn't.

"Bella?" Edward turned around to look at me. I quickly snapped out of my stupor and jogged over to catch up with him. He smirked down at me before leading the way to the restaurant. He held the door open for me and I walked in, a blush staining my cheeks red.

"Welcome to _La Bella Italia,_" a woman with bright red hair greeted as upon our entrance. She flashed Edward a bright white smile and I swear on my life, I saw her lower her shirt. But apparently Edward wasn't much of a boob man, because he just looked down at me with that same stupid, adorable crooked grin of his. I felt my cheeks betray me with a blush.

"Table for two?" The redhead asked. Edward nodded at her. "Smoking or non-smoking?"

"Non," Edward replied hastily. He knew very well, after his little question session in the car, that I absolutely loathed smokers. "And can we have something a little private?"

"Anything for you," she replied in a husky voice. I instantly looked at her with a face of pure disgust, but she wasn't paying me an attention. Instead she waggled a finger in Edward's direction, signaling for him to follow her. He took a hold of my hand and dragged me after him. I glared the evil, stupid, red-headed bitch down the entire time. How dare she blatantly hit on Edward right in front of me? Who did she think she was? She was making a total ass out of herself.

_Wait, why do you care?_ I mentally scolded myself. I didn't care. Edward could fuck whoever he wanted, it didn't matter to me. He was just my friend. My secret friend, that no one was allowed to know about. My secret, hot as all hell, friend. That's all he was and that was what I needed to get throw my head, right this second. I in no way, shape, or form had any romantic feelings or inclinations towards him. He was not my crush, he would never be my boyfriend, and we weren't going to fall in love. We were lucky if we'd make this friendship work out. We would never be more than this. We never could be. No matter what my heart was thinking of.

The red-head sat us at our table and I finally caught sight of her name tag. _Victoria_, I always knew that sluts went by the name of Victoria. She set the menus down in front of us and fixed our napkins. "Your server Tanya will be out any minute. Don't hesitate to call me if you need anything."

I didn't miss that this comment was directed only to Edward. A little annoyed by her blatant flirting, I flicked my wrist at her. "We'll be fine."

She didn't even hear me.

Edward smiled at her, practically dazzling her into a coma before responding, "As my date said, we'll be fine. Thank you for the warm hospitality."

Victoria didn't even get a chance to breathe, let alone say anything back, before some blonde girl came running up behind her. The girl nudged her out of the way before beaming down at Edward. Victoria stood behind Edward's newest admirer, glaring daggers at her. Now, I wasn't exactly the most judgmental person, but I couldn't help but instantly hate this girl as well. She had bleached blonde hair that was clearly from a bottle. Her nails were much longer than necessary and her lips were painted red. Had I seen her on the street, I would defiantly be picturing her for a different profession.

"I'm Tanya, your server," she waved at Edward. I couldn't help but giggle once I saw the slight grimace cross over his face. He looked at me and we shared a smile.

"We're just going to look over the menus, could we have a few minutes?" He said in the nicest voice possible. Tanya nodded her head enthusiastically.

"If you need anything—

"Don't hesitate to ask you?" Edward finished for her. Tanya looked moderately taken aback, but that charm that Edward seemed to ooze overpowered her and she smiled at him once more. "Thank you."

And then she was dismissed.

I couldn't contain my laughter. "Jesus, you have to beat the girls off with a stick."

"It's annoying," he said, as if he'd already had this conversation a million times before. "But I'm sure it's much more annoying, dealing with all those guys."

Again, I was laughing hysterically. Edward should take up a career in comedy, because I'd never heard a funnier statement in my life. "Yea, cause there are so many guys dying to be a part of my life."

"Bella," he leaned over the table, "Don't be so modest. I've heard the guys talk about you. You're very well loved."

"This is the first I'm hearing about that," I said after a long moment of silence. What do you say to a person after they tell you they've _heard_ about you? Do you ask them what they've heard? Do you just expect they will tell you? Or do you not care at all, or at least pretend not to care? Because, I couldn't figure out whether or not I cared. I mean, of course I cared. What could these guys be saying about me? Did they fabricate stories in which they won me, like I was some conquest? Or were they just talking about whether or not they liked me? If that was the case, then how do you go about asking a person this? The whole situation brought up more questions than I was ever willing to ask.

"Bells," he said so quickly, I was caught off guard. Only three people in this world called me Bells, that being my father, Jake, and Leah. I didn't know how to react to his use of my nick name. He said it so causally, as if he'd been calling me it for years now. He instantly caught onto my discomfort. "I'm sorry, I just hear your friends call you that all the time, and it's really cute, and I didn't mean to say it. It just came out, I promise I—"

"You promise you're going to shut up," I finished for him. "And tell me more about yourself, you _promised_!

Edward blushed lightly at my remark, but overcame it quickly. "I guess I should stick to my promise."

"Thank you," I said with a smirk.

Edward went to start talking, but we were rudely interrupted but none of than Edward's biggest admirer, Tanya. "You guys ready?"

I stared down at my unopened menu. I looked to Edward, wondering if he was just as distraught as me. He only smiled before turning to Tanya, "We'll each have a Coke to drink and your mushroom ravioli, if that's not a problem?"

"Not a problem at all!" Tanya replied before smacking on her gum. I instinctively twitched at the sound. Gum smackers were one of my main pet peeves. But of course Tanya didn't even catch my anxiety; she was too busy staring down Edward.

"I don't want to be rude, but we have a tight schedule and need to leave, so if you could hurry on our food, that'd be superb," Edward finally said once he realized Tanya wasn't moving.

I'm sure, had this been _any_ other guy, Tanya would have been offended, but this wasn't any other guy. This was Edward Cullen and most people did what he said. Tanya quickly apologized before dashing off towards the kitchen.

"Now, where did we leave off?" Edward leaned in towards me, his emerald eyes surveying my face.

"You were going to tell me about yourself," I reminded him, even though it was quite clear Edward remembered what we'd been speaking about.

"I don't see why you're so interested in me."

"You're a lot more interesting than me Edward," I said simply. "Now quit prolonging this and tell me more!"

Edward went to tell me things I already knew about him. For the rest of the time we were at dinner, I asked him question after question. My questions were pretty much the same as his, but that didn't make them any less significant. I wanted to know just as much about him as he knew about me. I didn't get to finish asking my questions, because we finished early.

Edward paid our bill and stood up abruptly. I followed suit. We left the restaurant in silence and I went to walk towards his car, but Edward's hand shot out and caught a hold of mine. His touch caused me to stop instantly. I looked at him, curious as to what was going on.

"I had one last thing in mind," he explained to me. He said nothing further, causing me to sigh.

"Let me guess, another surprise?" I asked. He nodded his head, a slight smile on his lips.

I had to admit, his last surprise had been an enjoyable. This one would probably be just as good, if not better. So instead of complaining about how I didn't like surprises, I let Edward guide me along the sidewalk, hand in hand. My attention was easily averted to my hand and how perfectly it seemed to fit with Edwards. However, I wasn't able to marvel over this fact much longer because Edward came to a complete stop, and I walked right into him. He caught me before I fell.

"Are you always this clumsy when you walk?" Edward asked me with a slight laugh before setting me back on my feet. I didn't get a chance to laugh at him, because I was quick to notice my surroundings.

We were at the Port Angeles beach. There was absolutely no one around us. All I saw was us sand that stretched on for miles. I turned to Edward, completely shocked. How could he possibly know I loved the beach? I mean, yes it may be common knowledge to some. But no one, aside from Leah and Jake, knew that I would rather walk on the beach in the dark then in the light. No one knew that I enjoyed the serenity of the ocean lapping up against the shore, while my feet sunk into the freshly wet sand. And of course no one knew that I would lay under the stars than go to a party. For me, it really was that simple.

"I love the beach," I said in a breath.

"I know," Edward replied before slipping off his sneakers and walking on the sand barefoot. I was quick to mimic his actions. We walked along the shoreline hand in hand, peacefully silent. We did this for a while before he turned to me and stopped.

I looked up to find Edward looking down at me; a completely pained looked crossing her perfect face. His lips were pulled tightly together; well his ears looked out at the ocean. I couldn't make sense of it. Everything had been going so well, this seemed like a harsh interruption of our great time.

"Is everything okay Edward," I asked him after a moment of uncomfortable silence. He turned his cold, hard eyes on me and I literally flinched away from him.

"Why are you doing this Bella?"

His brash words confused me and I pulled my hand out of his. I looked up into his eyes. They were teeming with a million different emotions, none I could read clearly. I only saw one distinct emotion and that was _pain_. I couldn't figure out why Edward was feeling pain. This night had been anything but _that_ for me. It was relaxing. Comforting. Fun. Pain was far from my mind when I was with Edward.

"Doing what?" I questioned him.

"This," he gestured between the two of us. "I keep trying and trying to figure out why you're letting this happen when you have our fate so securely placed in your head. You expect us to fail. So why bother?"

He was right. I'd been saying from day one this would never work out. I told him he was stupid for thinking it would. I made up all these elaborate excuses for why we could never be friends and a lot of them were good. But that didn't mean I didn't want us to succeed. I wanted to be friends with Edward. I wanted something good to come out of this. But I knew how fate played. Things never end well when it comes to me.

"I know you're confused Bella. You don't see yourself like I do. You don't see the reason to fight for this, but you will," his words were confusing. What did he mean by _fight for this_? Was he referring to our friendship?

"Edward, what are you—"

I never got a chance to finish my sentence, because my phone began to blare White Horse by Taylor Swift loudly. I blushed crimson before looking at the screen to see it was Leah calling me. On instinct I picked it up.

"Hey Lee, what's up?" I said into the phone.

"'_Hey Lee, what's up_?' That's all you have to say to me? After ditching me and Jake without so much as a text message, that's all I get? No, '_Hey Leah, I'm so sorry I didn't call! Something horrible came up_?' I get no attempt of an apology? What the hell is going on Bella?"

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry Lee," I sputtered into the phone. "I totally blanked out and forgot to tell you I went to Port Angeles for the day."

"How did you get there? Jake drove us, remember?" Of course I remembered, that's why I stalled by saying I went to Port Angeles. I had to think up how I got there and fast.

"This girl from my Bio class said she was going, but she had to stay later so I waited for her and we drove together," I replied, all in one breath. Edward gave me a mock-dirty look for being called a girl. I only rolled my eyes at him as I awaited Leah's response.

Some days, she could tell I was lying in a mere second, whereas on other days, she didn't even notice. She was always 50/50 when it came down to her sense for my deceitfulness.

"I wish you had text me and let me know," she said after a long sigh. "Jake waited for like, thirty minutes. I must have called you six times, but it went straight to voicemail."

"That's weird," I said in the most normal voice I could muster. It was very hard for me to lie and I was slowly losing my composure. I had to think of a way to take the attention off of me. "What did you and Jake do without me then?"

Leah paused and I took this as a good sign. "Nothing really, just went back to his house and stuff."

"And stuff?"

"Okay," Leah shouted loudly into the phone, "He kissed me! He finally kissed me, and oh my God Bells was it amazing. I seriously have never experienced anything better in my life—"

And for the second time in a five minute period, my conversation was interrupted. There was call on my other line. I pulled my phone away from my ear to look at the screen. It was my mother calling. I froze automatically.

"Who is it?" Edward whispered when he caught sight of my face. I just stared at him, completely horrified. "You're mother!"

I nodded my head slowly. I put the phone back to my ear to find Leah was still going on and on about her and Jake's kiss. Had I not been in the middle of a crisis, I would be listening to every word, but I was in a crisis. My mother never called me, which meant this was a bad sign. "Lee…"

"…and have you seen him shirtless? God is he hot," she started going into graphic detail of Jake's shirtless form.

"Lee," I said more forcefully. She stopped ranting almost immediately. "My mom is on the other line."

"Oh God, how did I forget?" She said and I pictured her smacking her own forehead.

"Forget what?"

"You mom called me, like five minutes before I called you. She had no idea where you were and she was trying to find out," Leah replied.

"What did you say?" I could not find my breath.

"I told her the truth, duh," Leah said loudly. "She asked me to call you and tell you to call her back, immediately."

"Thanks Lee," I said sarcastically. "Ugh, I gotta call her."

"Talk you about Jake tomorrow on the car ride to school, I'll pick you up at 7:15," she shouted before I hung up the phone

.

My phone was still ringing. I knew better than to keep my mom from waiting, so I picked up the phone and pressed it to my ear. "Mom?"

_So, what did we think? PLEASE REVIEW!!! My birthday is on Friday and I have major plans this week. So the next chapter will either be posted Thursday morning or Sunday morning. Just how the week works out guys! ALSO! Go check out the poll on my profile!!_


	6. Back Pack

_**Love Story**_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight._

_Author's Note: As always, I love you guys. You're seriously the best! Thank you for all the birthday wishes! Today is the big day! I'm finally 18 and it feels sooo good! A lot of you asked if I'd be writing in different POV's and the answer is YES! Just not yet, but soon. I promise!_

_My phone was still ringing. I knew better than to keep my mom from waiting, so I picked up the phone and pressed it to my ear. "Mom?"_

My mom didn't even take a beat before answering me. "Get home right now. We'll talk about this when you're here," and then I heard the phone click.

Edward's confusing anger from before vanished and he moved over to my side. "She sounded angry. What did she say?"

I was silent for a moment. But then reality set in and I was running towards his car. I didn't have much time. I needed to get home, immediately. "We have to go," I shouted over my shoulder. Edward was on my tail. I reached the car in a few minutes. Edward unlocked it and I threw the passengers side door open. Edward slid graciously into the front seat.

"Drive as fast as humanly possible and don't get stopped," I instructed him. Edward nodded his head silently and followed my commands.

The car ride was significantly awkward and the silence was deafening. I wanted to ask him, so badly, what he was talking about on the beach, but I couldn't find the will to do so. I was too afraid to hear what he had to say. Clearly he saw right through me. He saw what little faith I had in our friendship and it annoyed him. I was sure how badly it bothered him, but it had to be _enough_ for him to say something. I sighed heavily and stared out the window. We were just crossing the border into Forks now and it had only been fifteen minutes. Edward understood the word _fast_.

"When can I see you next," Edward questioned me as the car came to a slow stop. I turned to look at him. We weren't at my house.

"Where are we?" I looked around; I couldn't make out the scenery very well.

"Your house is just around the corner," he told me and I nodded my head in understanding. "I couldn't just drive up to your house and walk you to your door. I'm sure your parent's are waiting for you on your porch."

That made enough sense. I sat silent for a moment, contemplating an answer for Edward. I should tell him never again, because we were obviously mistaken in doing this in the first place. But I knew that was wrong. I had enjoyed every minute of tonight up until the phone calls came. I wanted more time with Edward. I wanted to see where this went and what we could do with it. I wanted to imagine Edward saw more in me than just a _friend_, even if that was a complete stretch. I wanted to spend as much time as possible with Edward. So I had to get over the fact that we were breaking every rule. I had to let go of it all and just give into him, fully.

"Bella," he spoke softly. I turned to him and gave him a small smile.

"Tomorrow," I said, biting my lip afterwards. I watched his face to gauge his reaction. His emerald eyes lit up almost instantly and his lips curled upwards into a smile.

"Same time?" He said with a slight laugh. I nodded my head enthusiastically. "Will you actually tell people that you're going out this time or will we be having a repeat of tonight's fiasco?"

I blushed at his words. "I'll come up with something to tell them, I promise."

"Good," he said before leaning over to hug me. I was startled at first, but his warm embrace felt so naturally that I was used to it in mere seconds. I slipped my arms around his waist and hugged him back gently. He let go of my much too soon and smiled at me. "Good night Bella."

"Night," I breathed out before sliding out of his car. I waved to him before turning around and walking towards my ultimate doom.

I heard Edward speed off into the night behind me, but I didn't turn to look at the retreating car. Instead I stared straight forward and thought up a million different excuses for why I didn't call. My phone died? No, that was unbelievable? I was busy? My parent's wouldn't give a shit if I had been busy. They'd be even more angered if I tried to use that as an excuse. Then what was there to say? I couldn't tell them I hadn't heard all 9 phone calls or that I had somehow missed the multitude of text messages I'd been sent. That would make me look stupid. So what could I say? I thought hard for a moment and then suddenly a _perfect_ lie came to mind! It was simple, but not too simple that they could see through it. I'd tell my parents that I'd left my phone in her car. When they ask _who_, I'll tell them Angela Weber. Before they even get a chance to say anything else, I'll tell them I was in the middle of calling them when Leah called. Leah will cover for me, she owes me. But then that means I have to tell her about Edward…no, no it doesn't. She probably won't even ask.

I had been thinking so much, I didn't even realize I was standing in front of my house. Like Edward had guessed, my parents were waiting outside for me. They could be so ridiculous sometimes. I breezed right past them into the house. But that didn't keep their questions from coming. My mother was right behind me, firing off a so many different questions, I barely had time to process one before the next one came. After a minute of listening to her shrill voice, I turned to face my mother and put a hand up to stop her.

"I will not shut up," she shrieked before crossing her arms over her chest and glaring me down. Charlie came to stand behind her, a frown planted on his face. I rolled my eyes at the both of them.

"I wasn't telling you to shut up," I explained to her, "But could you at least slow down and breathe? I mean, how am I supposed to tell you what happened if you're freaking out at me?"

"Well I wouldn't be _freaking out_ on you if you had just told me where you were going to be for the past seven hours," my mother said, moving her hands to her hips.

My father put a comforting hand on her shoulder before speaking. "I think what your mother is trying to say Bella is that we were just concerned. It's not like you to go out for long periods of time with no notice."

"Your father is right! I was scared to death. And when Leah didn't know a thing, I damn near fainted Bella," my mother said, her hard eyes lightening up a bit when she looked at me. I sighed heavily before moving forward to hug the two of them. If only they knew what I really had been up to, this conversation would be a lot different.

"I'm sorry mom, dad," I hugged them respectively; "I left my phone in Angela's car. I was so excited to be in Port Angeles, I totally spaced out and forgot to call you. I swear it won't happen again."

And because God was in a good mood today, my parents actually believed me. "It's okay sweety," my mother assured me in a much gentler tone. "I hate being worried, so I guess I overreacted a little bit."

"Don't worry mom, I deserved it," I replied as modestly as possible. "I guess I should warn you know that I'm going back to Port Angeles with Angela tomorrow, we were going to get some stuff for a Bio project."

"How lovely," my mother cooed before breaking apart from me to move off towards the kitchen. "How about coming home for dinner?"

I froze for a moment but then a quick lie came to mind. "We already made plans for dinner, sorry mom. Maybe another time?"

"Of course," she hummed before departing from the room. I turned to see my father settling onto the couch. He patted the seat beside him.

"Uh, I'm a little tired dad, so I'm going head off and get ready for bed," I replied while backing out of the room. He raised his hands in defeat.

"Can't blame a man for trying to spend some time with his daughter," he said with a laugh. I giggled awkwardly before completely leaving the room.

I didn't take a moment to bask in the glory of pulling one over on my parents. Instead, I rushed around to get ready for bed. If I thought about this all, then surely I'd get caught. It was fate. So if I did as I told my parents, I would be able to easily forget the fact that I lied to them.

I was done and lying in bed, wide awake, only twenty minutes later. I was so bored of out my mind, but I didn't want to run the risk of getting caught by going downstairs to watch TV. I contemplated my options. I could call Leah back to find out what she was talking about. I heard her talking an awful lot about Jake, but I couldn't exactly remember why. No, if I talked to her, she'd ask me a multitude of questions about today and I didn't fabricate the answers yet. I could do my homework. Yea, I had a few assignments do.

I threw the blankets off my legs and scrambled out of bed. I searched my room for a few minutes, looking for my stupid book bag. I was just about read to give up all together when I heard my phone vibrate on my night stand. I turned around, wondering who would be texting me at such a late hour. Probably Leah, anxious to talk about Jake. God, if those two didn't get together soon, I would kill myself. There is no way I'd be able to handle anymore of Leah's whining about Jake or Jake's angry rants about the guys Leah hands around. As much as I loved the two, they could be so stubborn and annoying at times.

I flipped open my phone quickly, already prepared with an excuse as to why I couldn't talk right now. Instead of seeing Leah's familiar number, I was greeted by an unknown number. I opened the text message, curious about who this unknown person was.

_I have your back pack._

There was no greeting. No signature. Just those simple words. And as simple as they were, they were terribly frightening. I looked around my room, completely horror stricken. Was I being watched? Who the hell was texting me? Were they outside my window? How did they get my back pack?

On instinct I ran to my window, closed my blinds, and locked my door before curling up on my bed. I sat in complete silence. Whoever this was watching me, knew where I lived. They wouldn't attack me however, at least not now, because they knew my parents were home. Unless…they snuck in my bedroom! They could sneak in soundlessly, smother me with a chloroform drenched rag, and drag me out of the house without my parents even noticing. I could be missing for at least 18 hours before my parents realized and by then, I could on a plane to Antarctica. I could be dead before my parents even went to bed. They'd never expect a thing.

I was taken out of my erratic thoughts by the sound of my phone vibrating once more. With slight trepidation, I reached out and grabbed it from the night stand. I was sure this message was very creepy. My stalker was probably going to tell me what clothes I was wearing and what I was currently doing. As terrified as I was of that happening, I was also incredibly curious. I sat there momentarily, weighing the pros and cons of not opening the message but instead deleting it. In the end, curiosity won.

I opening my phone once more, not surprise to see the unknown number again. quickly I opened his message and read.

_I'm sorry! I forgot to put my name at the end of that message. You must think I'm such a creeper. It's Edward. You left your bag in my car. _

I let out a breath I hadn't even realized I'd been holding as I read his message. I went to reply, but my phone buzzed more. I smiled slightly when I recognized Edward's number.

_And before you call me a creeper again for having your number, I would like to remind you that it's written on the front of your bag. Could you be any cuter?_

_Edward_

He caught me! That was exactly what I was going to say. And even though I had no real reason to, I couldn't stop myself from blushing. This whole matter was just a little bit embarrassing. I'm sure Edward was laughing his ass off at my expense. I saved his number in my phone before responding.

_Okay, okay so you may have freaked me out a little bit! I mean, who just randomly texts people in the middle of the night about back packs unless they are freaky, stalker weirdo's?_

I laughed to myself while rereading is messages. He was rapid with a response. I hastily opened his text.

_I said I was sorry! Let's just forget about my accidental moment of being a creep? Deal?_

_Edward_

I couldn't help but giggle at the fact he was now putting his name at the end of every message. I text back my response.

_That sounds fair enough._

I wasn't much of a 'texter' if you wanted to call it that, but I couldn't help but feel slightly anxious as I awaited Edward's response. I found myself enjoying contact with him more and more. So I practically burst when I felt my phone vibrate once more.

_Good : ) What did you wind up telling your parents? _

_Edward_

I relayed the whole story to him, which lead us until an entirely different conversation. I didn't even realize how long we'd been talking until I turned around to grab my blanket and I caught sight of the clock. It was 2:15 in the AM. I had to wake up in a little over four hours to get ready for school. But I didn't feel remotely tired. I wanted to continue my conversation with Edward.

_It's getting kind of late_, he wrote. It was as if he was in my head. I laughed at the silly notion.

_I know, I didn't even realize until just now. Are you tired?_

I noticed early on that Edward was a very fast responder.

_Not even a little bit. I want to stay up and keep talking to you beautiful._

_Edward_

My cheeks went bright red. Did he just call me beautiful? Was that some sort of joke? Or did he actually mean it? I must have sat around for a long time pondering the option, because I felt my phone vibrate once more. I looked down to see Edward had said something.

_I guess you're tired. I'll let you get sleep, seeing as we have to be in school in like 5 hours. I'll talk to you in the morning babe. Goodnight._

_Edward_

I barely managed to write a decent goodnight message before I started to hyperventilate. What was going on? Were his usage of the words _beautiful_ and _babe_ meant as terms of endearment or did he commonly use those? Was I supposed to sit here and analyze everything, or would I eventually get the message? How had my mind gone from thinking of Edward as just a friend t thinking of Edward as a hot, sexy possible boyfriend? Oh god, this was all getting out of hand.

I flopped over and onto my side. I wished away all thoughts of Edward. He was just a friend. He was going to remain _just_ a friend. And I was going to enjoy that. I was not going to relish the idea of Edward and me together. Because that was crazy and completely impossible. We could never be together. And even if we could, Edward would never want it. No, he was just being a general sweetheart and I was being conceited for thinking he wanted anything more than a simple friendship. If I could just convince myself that we'd never be more than just friends, I would be fine. _Yeah, cause that's not impossible…_

_Author's Final Say: SO, WHAT DID YOU GUYS THINKS?! I hoped you enjoyed it, cause I did. Next chapter is kinda of a little jump into the future; even though I'd much rather go through every single moment of Edward & Bella being together, I can't. Cause then this story would be about a million chapters long. PLEASE REVIEW! The reviews for last chapter really were a lot less than I expected. If you like it, review it please!_


	7. Your Best Friend

_**Love Story**_

_**Disclaimer**__: I don't own Twilight._

_**Author's Note**__:_ A lot of you keep asking why Renee hate's the Cullen's, guys don't worry! You will find out, I just didn't want you to know right off the bat. You also want to know if Bella & Alice will be friends…only time can tell. Cause I sure won't be telling you : )

Things were going…_perfectly_.

Edward and I devised a simple plan. In order to keep people from getting suspicious, we would hang out secretly three days a week. If anyone asked, I was taking a writing class in Port Angeles. I'd see him Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday and then spend the remaining days acting regularly. And the plan worked incredibly. No one knew a _thing_.

The only problem with all this was it meant I got closer to Edward. If we weren't together, we were consistently texting each other. We talked on the phone at night and I woke up to his texts. He was the first person I spoke to in the morning and the last voice I heard before I went to sleep. I found myself enjoying all this communication. Okay, I more so _craved _it. If I wasn't talking to Edward, I didn't feel right. He made me happy. He filled my every thought. I could be sitting in math class, going over the same old shit and his face would flitter into my mind. I'd think about how brilliant he was at math and how badly I wished he was there to keep my boredom at bay. But thoughts of Edward didn't end there. I thought of him when walking down the street. When I was sitting alone in my house. When I was with all my friends, I wished he could be there with me. I thought of how it felt to be in his arms. I would think about him and wonder how he felt about me.

I'd toss and turn at night, trying to piece together our relationship. _What were we?_ We acted like a secret couple in some aspects, but I knew it was nothing like that. And that caused me to have painful dreams. I would envision myself with Edward, only to have him break-up with me, saying we could only ever be friends. I'd wake up and realize that it was the sickening truth. I was building myself up so high, believing that I deserved Edward, when in reality I did not. He was much too good for me.

"Bella," I snapped out of my thoughts and turned to see Leah smiling down at me. She had a tray full of food in her hands. I scrunched my nose up at the sight. Leah barely ate more than a salad, there was no way my bunny of a friend could be eating all this.

"Jake's skipping to our lunch today?" I asked when I noticed his favorite food sitting on her try, French fries smothered in cheese sauce.

She nodded her head enthusiastically at me. I'd known all along that they would wind up together. I couldn't he happier for the two. They were meant for each other. Leah was the only person who could put up with Jake's obsession with cars and his habit of eating everything in sight. Instead of being annoyed with his goofiness, she embraced it. Jake was there for Leah after her dad died, in a way I couldn't be. He became her rock, her foundation. It was surprising it took them this long to get together.

As if on cue, Jake came into view. He flashed us a brilliant smile, mostly for Leah's sake and then jogged over to us. As soon as he was at our table, he took Leah into his arms and kissed her full on the lips. As much as I loved the two of them, I was not entirely in the mood to watch their little love fest. I was all out of love.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Quickly I pulled it out and read the message.

_Jealous?_

I looked up to see Edward staring directly at me. I rolled my eyes at him before responding.

_Of what? I'm pretty sure Leah can't breathe right now._

"Who you talking to Bells?" Leah plopped down next to me, leaning over to read the text. I slammed my phone shut and shoved it back in my pocket. I whirled around to face her, a fake smile plastered on my face.

"No one," I lied right through my teeth. "I was checking to see if I had any voicemails."

I watched her face to see her honest reaction. Her eyes scanned my phone once before she broke out into a smile. She bought the lie. "Oh, did you?"

Jake sat across from us and pulled the tray towards him. He plucked Leah's salad off the tray and pushed it towards her before starting to devour his food.

"No," I replied quickly. I glanced around the cafeteria, begging for some sort of distraction. I could only lie to Leah so much before things started to get out of control.

I wasn't sure if Leah could sense my discomfort. If she did, she didn't say a thing. And if she didn't, I was starting to worry about her. Either way, I was thankful for this because she offered me the distraction I needed, "So anyway," she drew out.

"Yea?" Jake said through a mouth of food. He was such a guy. I rolled my eyes and Leah giggled.

"They're having a masquerade ball next week," Leah said in one breath.

Jake and I both gave her the same dumbfounded expression. She sighed heavily before explaining further. "It's supposed to be really fun! We get to dress up real fancy, wear masks, and drink spiked punch."

Leah would be excited about masks and spiked punch. "Why, if this is only a week and a half away, are we finding out about it now?"

"Because," Leah said in a voice that sounded as if she were talking to a five year old, rather than her lifelong best friend. "They just got the dance approved by the principal last night."

"Whose they?" Jake's head whipped back and forth between us, gathering information while he ate.

"Alice and Rose," Leah replied with a flick of her wrist. I cringed at how easily she said their names. She said their names sweetly, as if they were old friends of hers. "So we're all going right?"

Instantly I was shaking my head. Leah frowned at me. "Why not Bells?"

"Me, dancing…not such a good idea," I reminded her of my lack of grace. She only waved this off as an excuse.

"Puh-lease, Jake can't dance but he's going to be there. Right Jake?" She turned towards her boyfriend.

He gave her an appalled look at first, obviously offended by her comment on his dancing, but melted almost instantaneously. That was the thing about the two of them, they could never say 'no' to one another. It was kind of cute, I guess. Jake nodded his head. "I'm going B, so you need to go."

"But I wont have a date," I said frantically, almost out of excuses as to why I couldn't go.

"You can go with one of Jake's friends!" Leah practically shouted. My mouth dropped open at this. Was she serious?

"I will not go on a pity date," I replied stubbornly.

"Please Bells," Leah pleaded with me. I attempted to turn away before she could give me _the look_ but I didn't get a chance. Her big brown eyes opened wide while her lower lip pouted out. Leah only sunk to using the lip when she was desperate. There was something more to this dance than she was letting on. I sighed dramatically before giving in.

"Okay fine, I'll go," I resigned. Leah squealed and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back half-way. Jake only laughed at my expense. "Jake, your friend better be hot and funny or else you guys _really_ owe me."

The rest of the lunch period was spent talking about what we were going to wear to this dance. Leah insisted on talking me to Port Angeles next Monday in order to get the perfect dress. I tried, desperately, to get her to switch it to Tuesday but she persisted on Monday. I gave in and sulked for the rest of the time, angry I wouldn't be seeing Edward that day.

When the bell rang, the three of us separated and I made my way to Bio. It generally was a five minute walk, but I managed to get there in under three. I guess I was a little anxious to see Edward. Not like it mattered if I got there early, he was always late. So guess you could say I was surprised to see him already sitting at our table when I entered the classroom. It was empty of everyone but us.

"You're early," he said with a grin. I moved through the desks and sat down next to him before saying anything.

"I think it's safe to say, so are you."

"With reason," he grinned at me once again before pushing a folded piece of paper towards me. I looked down at it, then up at him, before opening the paper. It was a flyer for the Masquerade Ball with the words _will you_ _be my date_, scrawled across the bottom. I looked up him, completely baffled by this.

"No one will know if we go together," he explained to me simply. "We'll be masked."

"Yea, I know that," I said. I wasn't stupid, I could read.

"So go with me," he said, placing his warm palm over mine. I retracted from his touch, as much as it pained me to do so.

"I can't Edward," I shook my head at him. Why did he insist on torturing me? He knew very well that this was a _bad_ idea. We'd get caught surely.

"Bella," his emerald eyes bore into mine. I willed myself to turn away from him. His hand rested on mine once more, "Please, just give me a chance?"

"Edward, we can't get caught," I said with a sigh. He wasn't willing to risk everything we'd come to have over some stupid dance, was he?

"We won't," he said confidently. I wished I could feel so sure of myself like he did. But I didn't. I was terrified by this.

"You don't know that," I shook my head once more. This was bad. Bad. Bad. _Bad._

"Bells, look at me," his soft instruction was impossible not to follow. I turned towards him, not meeting his eyes. "I would never get us caught."

"I can't Edward," I said, rising from my seat. I had to get out of there. I had to get out of this. If I stayed any longer, I'd surely give into Edward.

"You can Bella, please," he pleaded, grabbing hold of my hand. I spun around to look at him. His eyes were full with emotions. I saw pain, hope, desperation, and something I could have sworn looked like love. All of them passed through his brilliant orbs, but the last one was his anxiety. He wanted this. _Needed_ this. "I know you're scared of us getting caught, but you have to understand I'd never let that happen."

"But Edward—

"I promise you Bella," I could look nowhere else but into his eyes, "You will not regret going with me to this dance."

My composure fizzled away completely after that. Who was I to deny Edward this? He had been right. Our friendship was working out perfectly. Who was I to say this wouldn't work out as well? I had to give him a chance. He wasn't going to disappoint me.

I resigned back to my seat and dropped my hands into my lap. As I did so, students began to filter into class. "I'll go."

"Really," he leaned in towards me, practically begging me to look up at him. I gave him a sideways glance.

"Yes," I said softly. "But I have to go with a fake date, to keep up appearances."

"Must you?"

I turned to look at him fully now. "Yes! You'll need a fake-date as well."

"I want to go with you," he said sternly. The look I gave him made him turn away instantly. "Fine, I'll get a fake date."

I couldn't help but smile. I was going to the dance with Edward, as his _date_. This was going to be amazing. Perfect. I couldn't hold in my enthusiasm. I wanted to jump up and down and dance, but that would defiantly have people staring, so I remained seated with a big smile plastered on my face.

X

Monday came much quicker than I expected.

Edward was upset when I told him I couldn't spend the afternoon with him, but I promised to make it up to him by spending Tuesday with him. That promise seemed to even out things and he forgave me. I didn't get much time to think about what we would do Tuesday, because Leah pretty much attacked me as soon as I got out of Biology.

"Aren't you excited?!" She asked, bouncing on her toes as we walked side-by-side to my locker. I nodded my head at her, clearly not excited for this. "Oh come on Bells, it's not going to be horrible."

"Why can't you just pick out a dress for me?" I asked once we were standing in front of my locker. I quickly put in my combo and opened it up. "It's not like you're going to give me much of a choice in what I buy anyway."

She was silent for a moment. I grabbed my bag and slammed my locker shut before looking at her. Her lips were pulled into a frown while her arms were crossed over her chest. "Is it really so awful to spend time with me?"

"What?" I sputtered at her. I never said anything like that! I loved spending time with Leah, she was my best friend. We practically did everything together.

"I barely see you anymore Bells, you're always busy during the week and you work on weekends. We're finally spending time together and all you can do is complain about it," Leah said in one breath. I stared at her, completely taken aback. I had no idea she felt this way.

"I…I don't know what to say," I blurted out. She glared at me before turning away and walking towards the parking lot.

"I think you've said enough," she shouted at me over her shoulder. I started chasing after her instantly. I grabbed her arm and yanked her back.

"Listen Lee, I'm sorry," I said before she could yell at me for pulling her. "I know I've been really busy lately and I've been kind of neglecting you. I honestly didn't mean to. I guess I just thought because you had Jake, you didn't really need me that much anymore."

"Of course I need you!" She yelled at me, ripping her arm out of my grasp. I flinched. "You're my _best_ friend Bella, I always need you."

"Yea, but so is Jake. And he's your _boyfriend_, so obviously you need him more," I said back.

"Are you serious?! I need you Bells! Who else am I going to torture with beauty products? Who else can talk about absolutely nothing for hours on end with? When I need to talk about my mom, you're the one I talk to. And how am I supposed to talk about Jake to Jake, huh Bells? I need my best friend a lot more than you think."

She was right. Of course she was right! It made no sense for me to try and even argue her. I looked down at my feet to avoid her gaze. "I know and I'm sorry Lee. I've been so selfish lately."

Usually, Leah would continue arguing with me and demand for me to go on with my apology, but instead she was quiet. Her arms wrapped tightly around me and it was then I realized she was hugging me. I hugged her back tightly. I felt my heart ache and I knew it was because this was all my fault. I had obviously been hurting Leah and hadn't even known. I was such an awful friend.

"It's okay Bells," she finally said, pulling away from me. We were both crying. When she saw my own tears, she started to laugh and nudged me. "Let's go, we can cry in the car if we need to."

I smiled widely at her before sliding into the passenger's seat of her Honda Civic. Leah sat down and started the car. As she pulled out of the parking lot, I turned on the radio automatically. The song Thinking of You by Katy Perry blasted through the speakers. She turned it up louder and began to sing along.

"I love this song," she shouted to me before singing along with the chorus. I couldn't help but join in. As much as I loved the song, it didn't put me in the best mood. It was more of a sad song that a happy, pop song.

When it ended, Leah turned the radio down and looked at me. "So, Bells can I ask you something?"

"Sure," I said while looking through one of the magazines I had plucked off her seat. "What's up?"

She bit her lip while she stared forward, "Why are you busy so much? I mean like, what are you doing?"

I froze. What was I doing? Oh, spending 20 plus hours a week with my mortal enemy, that's all. Nothing big. "Um," I paused trying to think up an excuse.

"Cause, I mean I know you've been talking to someone," she said slowly.

"What do you mean?" I asked her, a little bit confused.

"Bella, you're on your phone 24/7. Three weeks ago you barely even used your phone, but now you're nonstop texting. I'm not a dumby, I know that means something."

"Yea," I replied, unsure of what to say to that.

"Who is he Bells?"

I should have known she would catch on. She wasn't stupid. Actually, when it came to relationships Leah always had good advice. She knew guys pretty well and was generally very aware of their feelings.

I could easily tell her it was a guy I met in Port Angeles and that's why I was there all the time. I could make up his entire life story. I wouldn't have to mention a word of Edward. But that would mean I would be lying to her. And I had just made her cry because I was a bad friend. I couldn't lie to her right after doing that, no matter how badly I needed to. She was my best friend, she could handle the truth.

"Bella," she said after I'd been silent for quite some time. "Come on, tell me about the guy! What's his name?"

I paused before taking in a deep breath. "Edward."

"Oh, how adorably classic. Not many people have that name, where's he from?" She asked me enthusiastically.

"Our school," I said in a small voice.

"Where'd you meet him? Is he cute? How did you start…" She said all this in one sentence before stopping dead. She turned her heads towards me and I knew the jig was up. She realized who I was talking about. And now she was going to tear my head off. "You better not be dating him yet Isabella Marie Swan or I might just have to kill you!"

I looked at her for a moment before letting out a sigh of relief. She didn't know. "I met him in Bio. But no, we're not dating. We probably never well. And yea, he's so cute."

"What do you mean you won't ever date? Any guy who texts you as much as this Edward guy texts you obviously is interested in dating!"

"It's not like that," I tried to explain. "We're just really good friends."

"How do you feel about him Bella? Do you want to be more than just friends?" Leah had a great way of making me talk a whole lot more than I ever wanted to. I bit my tongue, trying to find the right words to say. But I couldn't.

How did I feel about Edward? He was great. No, he was _amazing_. There were too many adjectives in the English language that I could describe him with. He made me laugh at the stupidest things. He was so easy to open up to. I always wanted to be with him. I imagined us together and it was the best feeling in the world. I guess you could say I was little bit obsessed with him, but can you blame me? He's the perfect guy.

"I don't know, he's a really good guy," I finally said after a long moment. I turned to see Leah grinning from ear to ear.

"You like him," she giggled.

"Of course I do, he's my friend," I said back.

"No, I mean you _like_ him," she replied. My mouth dropped.

"I don't not," I replied stubbornly. "We're just really good friends, that's all. Besides, it's not like he'd ever want to date me."

"Oh my god, Bella. Do you hear yourself? You practically in love with this guy," she shouted. "Tell me _everything_ about him! I need to know all there is about your future boyfriend."

"He is not my future boyfriend!"

"Oh yes he is," she sang. I felt my cheeks burn red at this. She was doing a little dance and singing about me having a boyfriend when she suddenly stopped. "Wait, what's his last name again?"

"Cullen," I replied, giving her a nervous laugh.

"Isabella Marie Cullen," she started to chant the name over and over again until she realized what she was saying. "Oh my god, what the hell?!"

She stopped the car dead in its tracks and I turned away from her instinctively. "Edward Cullen?! Bella, you've been talking to Edward Cullen. Are you insane?"

"Possibly," I murmured.

"You mom is going to kill you!" She yelled at my angrily.

"Not if she doesn't find out," I finally turned back to her, my eyes pleading. "Please, don't tell anyone Leah. No one can know. I can't lose him Lee, you don't understand."

She stared at me, her eyes conveying how horrified she was. "You can't lose him?"

I shook my head, tears now streaming down my face. "I don't know how it all happened, but he means so much to me. I can't believe I did this, I'm so stupid. What was I thinking? This could never work out. You're right; my mom is going to kill me."

The silence in the car caused my tears to intensify. The reality of things started to set upon me. I was so stupid. I'd become so attached to Edward, I was blocking out the real world. We were safe when we were alone, but only for so long. We were going to be found out, it was inevitable. And then I would lose him. I couldn't imagine what that would feel like. We weren't even dating, yet here I was freaking out about losing Edward. God, I was such an idiot.

"You're not going to lose him," Leah said softly, pulling me into her warm arms. I began to cry even harder. "I won't tell a soul, not even Jake."

"But why?" I blubbered. "You hate Edward!"

"No, your mom hates him" Leah corrected me. "I'm your best friend Bells, I'm here for you always. If Edward is what makes you happy, then who am I to say you can't be with him? If you believe in it, things will work out. I promise."

"How? How could they possibly work," I asked her as I pulled away.

"Because I'm going to help you," she said, a warm smile gracing her beautiful face. "Obviously Edward means a lot to you and hopefully you mean just as much to him."

"I don't," I informed her.

"I'll be the judge of that," she told me swiftly. "Which means you have to introduce me to him? I need to know his intentions are good."

"What?" I shouted.

"Bells," Leah put her hand on mine, "I'm your best friend. It's pretty much an unwritten law that the best friend needs to meet and get along with the boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"Whatever, I want to meet him."

"Fine," I ground out. If it meant she wasn't going to tell, I'd do anything.

Leah clapped her hands excitedly before turning back to the wheel and starting to drive again. "So, tomorrow after school we can have a little lunch date in Port Angeles and I can mark my approval."

I nodded my head before sinking down in my seat, completely exhausted by our conversation. As much as I loved Leah, I was very nervous about her meeting Edward. I had no idea what she was going to say or do. All I could do was hope and pray that she liked him and he liked her. If not, I was in for a whole lot of trouble.

_How did you like the update? Now, I'm sure a few of you will say Leah is a little OC, but that's intentional. In my story, she doesn't have such a bitter past. She is happy but you will see natural sides of Leah in later chapters. So, the next two chapters are WRITTEN which means, if I get 50+ reviews for this chapter, I will post chapter 8 on Thursday. And chapter 8 is the beginning of the dance! _


	8. What a Meeting, What a Dance

_**Love Story**_

_**Disclaimer**__: I don't own Twilight._

_**Author's Note**__: I love this story so much! It's kind of bad because I have so many neglected stories and I keep writing for this one. I will go back to others, I really need to update Story of My Life. BTW, if any of you guys have started to have an obsession or just plain old like Leah POV stories, you should read _The War Leah's _by _EllaRose00 _and_ Journey _by _Lil Dinky. They are very different, but SO FREAKIN GOOD!

_ALSO! Bella Lover, you left me quite a nasty review that had NOTHING to do with my story. Please, don't do it again unless you have a valid point to make. I can hate Bella as much as I want and love Twilight. It's not impossible since I'm doing it right now. A lot of other people agree with me. And you do realize, if she had a personality in the book, people would relate to her. My hate for Bella only intensified after the movie came out. I'm sorry to admit it to everyone, but I hate Kristen Stewart. But guess what, she thinks all the Twilight fan's are 'retarded'. Her words, not mine folks! _

_To all my faithful & loving reviewers, I'm sorry I just rambled at you but I really hate it when people leave flames and are too cowardly to post them under their accounts…on with the chapter!_

After spending what felt like an eternity in Port Angeles, Leah and I finally made our way home. She dropped me off and left me to sit alone in my house, freaking out about the arranged meeting between her and Edward. It was most likely going to be the most awkward situation of my life. Even though Edward and I weren't dating, Leah was going to treat it that way. She'd ask him a million embarrassing questions and then Edward would never talk to me again. This would then lead Leah to freak out on him in public and totally blow our cover. We were doomed. I was so wrapped up in my concern for that, I didn't even notice my phone vibrating til no end. It wasn't until my phone fell off my nightstand that I noticed. I dove to catch it before it shattered on the floor and was just in time to pick it the call.

"Hello?" I said into the phone. I hadn't had time to catch who it was calling me. I looked at the clock on my wall to see it was almost 11:30 at night. Had I really been freaking out for that long?

"Bella," Edward's silky voice floated through my earpiece. I nearly melted. "I thought you might have fallen asleep."

Even though I was alone, I was still embarrassed to blush. "I'm sorry; I've been sitting here just thinking."

"Would it be rude for me to ask what you're thinking about?" Edward asked very politely.

I sighed heavily before answering him. He needed to know. "I was with Leah today and she asked me a question. Apparently she thinks I've been talking to someone."

"Oh," he said, slightly confused. "What did you tell her?"

"That I was," I said nervously. He was silent and I immediately began apologizing. "I'm so sorry Edward! I couldn't keep lying to her! She's my best friend and right before I told her we had this huge fight and I was crying and she was crying and it—"

"Bella, Bella," he cooed into the phone. "It's okay, calm down. I'm not mad at you."

"You're not?" I didn't even notice I had started to cry.

"Please tell me you're not crying," he sounded so concerned that my tears sparked once more. I rarely ever cried, so this was the strangest feeling for me. I'd cried three times in one single day, what the hell was going on with me?

"I'm not, I swear," I lied attempting to hide my tears. I tried to change the subject quickly in order to get the attention off my crying. "But there's more I have to tell you."

"Of course, that's fine Bella. Is it what Leah said that's making you upset?"

I did the idiot thing and nodded my head. Once I remembered Edward wasn't actually a creeper and couldn't see me right now, I blushed and vocalized myself. "Yes."

"Aw Bella, what'd she say to you?" His voice was so soft, so soothing. I wished I could be with him.

How was I going to tell him that my best friend wanted to meet him because she thinks we're pretty much destined to date? Was there anyway to say that? Most likely not, unless I wanted to sound like an asshole. Because if I told him that's what Leah assumed, he'll think I told her a bunch of made up shit and that I'm obsessed with him. If I thought fast, maybe I'd come up with a good enough excuse.

"She thinks you conned me into a friendship," I blurted, realizing that I sounded absolutely retarded. What was I thinking, just _thinking fast_? I didn't do that. I couldn't just wing this. I wasn't cunning, at all.

Edward laughed lightly on the line, "What did she really say?" How was it he saw right through me? My parents, even my own best friends, had been buying my lies as of late. But not Edward, he knew what the truth was. Which meant he probably knew how I felt about him? How awesome!

I grumbled before spilling the truth. "At first she was all happy and giddy, then she freaked out thinking we were dating, and then she demanded to meet you and find out what your intentions were. She's like my father, in a way."

He was full out laughing now. If it were possible, my cheeks would be on fire at this point. "So we're dating according to Leah?"

"She's convinced it's going to happen," I told him. As much as I would have loved to further that very awkward, embarrassing conversation, I decided to focus more on our plans for Tuesday. "So, we're going to see her after school tomorrow."

He managed to stop laughing at me for a moment to take in this new news, "Is this my wonderful make-up surprise for being ditched today?"

"I didn't ditch you," I said instinctively, embarrassing myself further. "I mean, Leah begged me to go. I wound up telling her I was supposed to see you today and she felt bad. Tomorrow will be fun, I promise."

"Anything with you is fun," he replied simply. I was just in the midst of calling him corny, even though his words touched me, when he spoke up. "Especially when you find it awkward and uncomfortable."

"Aren't you just a charmer?" I practically snorted into the phone.

"The ladies have told me that," he quipped and I rolled my eyes. I was just about to reply when I heard a muffled sound flitter through the phone, like another person speaking. Edward whispered into his phone, "My sister is such a pest. I'll speak to you in the morning. Sweet dreams Bella."

"Night Edward," I managed to say before the line clicked. I sighed heavily and tossed myself back onto my bed, worrying myself to sleep.

x.

I had to give it to Leah.

She most certainly wasn't awkward and embarrassing. Although the first question out of her mouth was 'What are your intentions with Bella'. Edward was quick to tell her he'd never hurt me and that was a promise. Leah believed him and everything had been smooth sailing since that moment. Nothing was weird and there wasn't any tension. I'd pretty much worried about nothing, because we all seemed to get along. In fact, spending time with Leah and Edward was kind of, well, _fun_.

"Bella, you really suck at this," Leah called over her shoulder as she glided farther and farther away from me. I scowled angrily at her as I stumbled about like a moron.

Okay, so roller skating while Edward watched was kind of embarrassing. And I had Leah to blame for this. She knew I had no hand-eye-coordination, but she insisted we all go roller skating. Leah also knew that if Edward was smart, which he so _clearly_ is, he would agree to whatever she said. So I un-gave it to Leah for making me look like a fool in front of Edward, even if it was kind of fun.

Edward slowed down and was skating by my side in seconds, "You don't suck," he assured me as he took my hand in his. I continued to stumble, "but I must be honest Bella, you're not very good."

"Thanks, I didn't notice," I said a little more acidly than I'd intended. It wasn't his fault we were here; it was all Leah's fault. I was just so aggravated by the fact I couldn't manage to skate as beautifully as Edward and Leah did. It was like they were out of some cheesy 70's roller skating movie. They knew it all and I knew nothing. It was a damn miracle that I hadn't broken my face already.

Because I always cursed myself, I would up tripping over my own two feet. I could hear Leah cackle in the background as I fell face forward. Edward's arms caught me right before I hit the wooden floor and I inhaled deeply. I had been my life flash before my eyes in that moment. He pulled me up next to him and held me close for a long moment. I looked up into his emerald eyes and saw him probing my whole body.

"I'm okay Edward," I tried to assure him as I pushed off of him. Too bad I lacked the grace and skill to actually pull that off. Instead of pushing away from Edward, I managed to trip backwards and landed directly on my ass, pulling Edward down right on top of me.

I heard Leah skating towards us, laughing her lungs out. I didn't move, because I was completely mortified by my clumsiness and the fact that Edward Cullen was on top of me. My hormones would not let me forget how _hott_ Edward was, which made me tint red all over as I tired to get up. But I just couldn't move.

Edward chuckled along with Leah before tumbling off me. I felt cold at once. He rose and then bent down to help me up. "I think we should sit down for a little while."

"Yea, let's get the newbie off the rink before she kills somebody," Leah laughed, obviously finding enjoyment in all of this. I on the other hand was dying of humiliation as Edward guided me towards the seating area.

I grumpily sat down and scooted away from him. He rolled his eyes at me and scooted closer. I scooted away again. "Oh come on Bella, it was a little funny."

"It was not," I said. My voice sounded whiny, but I couldn't control it. I was so embarrassed; I didn't know what to do.

He scooted closer again and when I went to move, I realized I had no where else to scoot. So I turned away from him and glowered at the edge of the booth, thoroughly acting like a five year old. He leaned over to whisper something in my ear, "It was very cute though."

God damn him and his way of making me blush.

"You guys are so adorable," Leah gushed from across the table. I just threw her an annoyed glance and went back to attempting to ignore Edward. Leah was the only one who managed to ignore anything, like me, before she went rambling on. I didn't pay much attention to her because of the close proximity between Edward and I. We only ever got this close when we hugged each other goodbye and it was never for this long. I didn't feel uncomfortable as much as I felt a burning need. I was dying to turn around and latch onto Edward, swearing to never let him go.

So when I heard Leah babbling on about the dance, I was a little confused. "…Jake's already found you're date Bella! Oh my god, how jealous will you be Edward? He's kind of cute! Better watch out, he might try and steal your girl."

"I'm not scared of a little competition," Edward replied back. This seemed to grasp Leah's interest, along with mine. However, I was ignored for the remainder of the conversation. Instead the two went on and on about the dance and our dates. Even though I didn't really enjoy being ignored, I couldn't help but smile when I realized how well today had gone. It was quite obvious Leah approved of Edward, hell she practically adored the guy. And Edward seemed very amused by my erratic best friend. Things went so well, I didn't even realize how fast time had gone by.

Apparently I wasn't the only one. "Oh my god, it's getting late," Leah practically shouted. I nodded my head in agreement, along with Edward. "We need to head home Bells, my moms making us dinner."

Even though I didn't want to be obvious about how annoyed I was at having to leave, I wound up letting a sigh slip out. Leah rolled her eyes at me and I felt Edward nudge me a little.

"You're right Lee," I conceded. We returned our skates and made our way back to the cars. We'd traveled separately, which meant I was leaving Edward now. Leah jumped in and gave him a quick hug.

"I kind of feel dumb hating you all these years," she said as she pulled away. "Who knew you were such a sweetie?!"

He smiled broadly at her, dazzling her with his charm. I only giggled, not used to his effect by enjoying him use it on some else. "You're a delightful person Leah, I'm glad you arranged out meeting."

"No problemo," she said before sliding into the Civic. I smiled at my friend before stepping in towards Edward. He pulled me into his arms at once and I felt myself melting.

"Tell me why I never want you to leave," Edward asked me softly. I could only shrug, because there was no logical answer to his question. It was rhetorical. He had the situation flipped. I never wanted _him_ to leave. "I'll call you before bed Bella," he said before dropping a kiss to my forehead.

I stood completely still. He kissed me. He _kissed _me. Even if it was on the forehead, still he freakin' kissed me! I was ready to die. Lucky for me, he didn't notice this because he was already opening his car door. I managed to turn away from him, whispering a goodbye before charging Leah's car. I jumped in and slammed the door behind me. The next five hours were spent dissecting what _exactly_ the kiss meant.

x.

The next two times I hung out with Edward ended exactly the same, with a long hug and a kiss on the forehead. I was too afraid to ask Edward what this meant and too nervous to consider what Leah believed it to be. According to Leah, this was the last step before being asked out. As amazing as that sounded, I couldn't believe it. So I simply blocked it all out and let Friday come as fast as possible. Which was pretty fucking slow.

However, Friday did come. I managed to breeze through all of my classes and was floating on air by the time I walked into Bio. However, I lost my big, doofy smile when I noticed Edward was not waiting for me. Ever since last week he'd been here earlier than me, so this was a little off. I didn't freak out about it though, because Edward had been known for his lateness prior too. But when he didn't show, thirty minutes into the period, I was aggravated beyond belief. I pulled out my phone, ready to text the jerk and find out where he was, but Ms. O had other plans.

"Isabella Swan," she barked from the front of the classroom.

I whipped my head up and shoved my phone into my jean pocket in an attempt to hide it. But the look on Ms. O's face told me I hadn't done that well of a job. She walked towards me, her heels click-clacking loudly on the floor. Her hand was outstretched towards and I felt myself cringe inward. She wanted my phone.

"What's up Ms. O," I tried to say nonchalantly while looking down at my notebook. I could sense her frowning at me.

"Give me the cellular device Ms. Swan," she ordered. I heard a few girls giggle behind me while some guys interjected comments. A select few thought her idea was crazy, but it seemed the majority of my class hated me and wanted me phone to get taken away. Assholes.

"I wasn't on my phone," I blatantly lied, turning farther away from her.

"I will not repeat myself. If your phone isn't on my desk at the end of this period you will serve a Saturday detention, do you understand me Ms. Swan?"

Saturday detention? Oh hell no! There was no way I was going to do that. But I couldn't give her my phone. That meant either my parents were going to have to come pick it up or I'd have to wait until Monday to get it back. But if I didn't give her my phone, I'd have to come to school on a weekend. I knew which was worse. I quickly deleted all my text messages and locked my cell phone before handing it over. She humphed at me and walked back towards the front. And because God hates me, the bell rang right then.

Leah found me in the hallway and before I knew it, I was being dragged to her car. I didn't even get a chance to buckle myself before we were driving away. She was still rushing when we got to her house, practically yanking my arm off as she tore me out of the car, into her house and up the stairs. After all of that, I was subjected to hours of torture, or what she liked to call 'preparation'. By the time we were both ready we only had five minutes to wait for our dates to arrive.

It was very hard to walk in my dress. I wasn't used to wearing something so constricting. I managed to get the hang of it and was able to walk over to the mirror. After thoroughly looking myself over, I had to nod my head in affirmation. Leah did a good job, even with me. My dress make me look like I came straight from a scene from Phantom of the Opera. The bodice was a corset, which caused the main constriction, and was beautifully admonished with beads and rhinestones. The skirt of my dress however had a much different sort of fashion. It was lacy giant, with many layers that wafted down spectacularly. I was in absolute awe with my dress. I usually went for simple dresses that had no lace, beading or rhinestones. I generally hated being flashy, but this dress was too gorgeous for me to dislike. In fact, I was practically in love with it. Especially it's _color_. Most people would see it as royal blue, but that seemed too ordinary of a color title. The dress shone in ways royal blue did not. It was astounding and I wished I could wear it every single day.

Once I was done marveling my dress, I caught a glimpse of my face. My hair was pulled back with pins to keep it out of my face, falling over my left shoulder in an elegant side pony tail. I admired it for a moment before remembering what my face had looked like. I never, ever, wore make-up, but I was now. I'd expected it to feel heavy and goopy, but Leah did a perfect job. My make-up felt airless and looked flawless. My skin glowed and my brown eyes popped. They actually _popped_. The black mask Leah had fixed over my eyes was actually very pretty and went perfectly with my dress. My cheeks tinted as if I was always blushing and I couldn't help but smile. I actually looked pretty. God, I'd have to thank Leah tons for this.

"Oh my god," I finally said. Leah was staring at me, shaking her head happily. "You're the miracle worker!"

"I know," she cried, latching onto me. "Bells, you look so beautiful. Ugh, I feel like a rag doll next to you."

"As if," I said while pushing her away. She was kidding if she thought that comparison was correct. I looked good, but Leah blew me out of the water. She really knew how to look amazing.

Her dress was very similar to mine, with tons and tons of lace. Except her dress was in her signature color, white. She even had a white mask to match it. Even though our dresses and masks were practically the same, Leah looked so much better in hers. She was a few inches taller than me and much thinner, so she looked more like a runway model in her dress while I looked like a high school senior going to a dance. Not to mention the fact her ebony hair fell down her back in dazzling, big fat curls while her tan skin glistened. Her make-up was simple except for the red lipstick she wore. On anyone else, the lipstick would be trashy. On Leah, the lipstick made her look like Marilyn Monroe. I was the portrait of envy. Leah was naturally drop-dead gorgeous and tonight she looked fabulous.

"You really like how you look?" Leah asked me, biting on her lip. My eyes bulged out at her and my jaw dropped. I shook my head enthusiastically.

"Of course I do, God I could have _never_ done this Lee," I admitted. She smiled at me before confessing how she knew that.

There was no time left to gush because Leah's younger brother burst into the room. I jumped a little in shock and I saw Seth blush at the fact. Leah glowered at him, "Did you forget how to knock Seth?"

"Sorry Lee," he said with his head down. "Mom wanted me to tell you that your dates are here."

Leah instantly forgot our previous conversation and began to bounce on her toes. She grabbed a hold of my wrist and dragged me past Seth and to the top of the stairs. She elegantly glided down the stairs first, leaving me to awkwardly stumble after her. I managed to make it down in one piece and couldn't help but smile at that fact.

"Leah, baby you look so beautiful," Jacob said as he stared at his girlfriend. Leah blushed and turned her cheek away. It was kind of cute how she still acted shy around him at times.

But her perky mood came back instantaneously when she noticed the tall boy standing beside Jacob. "Embry? Oh, how cute are you and Bella going to look together?!"

I turned to look at Embry. He was one of Jake's best guy friends. When he wasn't with Lee and me growing up, he was with Embry and Quil. So, I knew him pretty well. Which meant the dance wasn't going to be awkward. Embry was a great guy and pretty cute on his own. However when I looked at him, I realized something. When he cleaned up, he _cleaned up_. He had the same tan skin like Leah and Jake, but his seemed to glow a little more. His smile was genuine, radiating off his perfect face. His muscles bulged slightly under his tux. I hadn't seen him in a while, so I was a little shocked to find that his usually long hair was cut short and slicked back. It was a good look for him. Very clean cut. I couldn't deny how cute he was. I blushed crimson at the realization.

"Hello Bella," he extended his hand to help my off the stairs. Jake did the same for Leah. Once I put my hand in Embry's he kissed it and then smiled up at me. My cheeks definitely went a shade redder.

"I think it's time to leave," Jake said awkwardly as he opened the door. We all nodded in agreement and followed after him.

For a brief moment, I expected a horse and buggy to be waiting outside for us to drive us into the night, but my daydreaming was cut short when I caught a glimpse of Jake's Rabbit sitting in Leah's driveway. I sighed.

"Our carriage awaits," Embry joked, holding out his arm for me. I laughed lightly and hooked my arm with his, allowing him to lead me to the car. He opened the door for me and helped me get my dress in before sitting down himself. Embry was quite the gentleman.

Okay, so I had to admit it. Jake picked a good fake-date. He was cute, funny, and sweet. That was more than I could ask for in a fake-date. Hell, he could have showed up in jeans and a t-shirt, with stains on it, and been a total asshole. But Jake would never do that to me. Instead he picked his good-looking best friend to be my date. And because Jake picked Embry, I was no longer looking at a very awkward beginning to my night. In fact, I might even enjoy myself. Embry would definitely do…until I could sneak off with Edward that is.

I turned to see Embry beaming at me. His warm smile made me feel slightly guilty. He had no idea that I would be leaving him at some point tonight. Some time very soon, to be correct. He was blissfully unaware and that made me feel awful. He probably blew off plans with some really hott girl just to help me out. And here I was, ready to ditch him for some hotter guy. I was pretty much a total asshole.

Before I knew it we were parking in front of the school. The dance was taking place in our gymnasium, no surprise there. I didn't really expect much, because at our school nothing was very nicely done. However, I couldn't help the slight twinge of excitement that perked up inside of me. I as at the dance! And in a few minutes, I was going to be with Edward. How could I resist being happy?

I allowed Embry to direct me into the dance and towards our table. Leah and Jake were hand-in-hand, whispering sweetly to each other. I didn't dare intrude of their conversation. I sat down delicately at the table and waited for my date to do so. He smiled down at me, "I'll get us some punch."

"That'd be sweet," I told him with a grin. He beamed at me once more before making his way to the punch bowl. I let my mind wander while he got my drink. I was giddy about Edward's soon arrival. We were going to dance together. He would hold me in his arms and I would pray he would never let me go. It was going to be beautiful, romantic…right out of a movie.

"Here you go my lady," Embry brought me out of my day dreams. I looked up to him and laughed awkwardly. I hoped he hadn't seen the goofy expression on my face when I was thinking of Edward. That would have been embarrassing.

"Thanks," I said before taking a sip of my punch. As soon as the liquid hit my tongue, I knew there a distinct difference in it. This wasn't just punch. Of course Leah would guess right. I sighed and pushed the glass away. I was a lightweight, meaning if I drank this one glass I'd be a mess and embarrass myself completely. I was not trying to ruin tonight.

"What's wrong?" Embry asked, his drink perched at his lips. When he caught me eyeing the drink he nodded his head in understand and then downed his whole glass. "I'm like a tank."

It was easy to laugh at Embry. Whether it be at something he did or if it was just something he said. He was a funny guy. Leah and Jake left us to go dance, but Embry and I enjoyed talking more than anything at he moment. He made jokes and entertained me for long, when I finally caught the time I was surprised. We'd been at the dance for almost an hour and a half. _Where the hell was Edward_?

I looked around the crowded gym, searching for his tall form. Even disguised, I'd be able to pick Edward out of a crowd. It wouldn't be hard. He's the gorgeous, super tall, incredibly built guy with perfect eyes. No mask can hide that. When I didn't see him, I tried to look again. I stood up, completely cutting Embry off. Edward had promised I would wait no later than twenty minutes and here I was, over an hour later than that with my fake-date, and not my real one. Did he wind up having more fun with his fake-date? Had he forgotten about me?

"Where you headed?" Embry asked, placing his hands softly on my arm. I turned to look at him, a little confused by his words. He had a sort of pained look on his face. I tried to read it. He looked…_rejected_. Instantly I felt awful. I hadn't even considered his feelings before this. I was going to just ditch him, for another guy. That kind of thing really wounded a man's ego. He'd be furious with me.

I bit my lip, trying to figure out what to say to him. "Embry, I don't know what to say…" I trailed off, at a total loss for words.

"Say that you'll finally dance with me," He said with a laugh, taking my hand in his. I just stared at him awkwardly. _One dance wouldn't hurt_, I told myself after a few moments of silence. I owed him that much seeing as I was going to ditch him. _If Edward ever comes_, I thought sourly. The thought of Edward and his tardiness was what made me do it. I took Embry's hand in mine and dragged him onto the dance floor.

The music playing didn't remotely relate to all of our costumes, but no one seemed to mind. Embry wrapped his arms around my waist and dangled my arms over his neck, letting him lead me in dance. I was quite possibly the worst dancer alive, so there was no way I could this on my own. Lucky for me, Embry was proving to be a good dancer. He held me close, a little closer than I thought appropriate for just friends, but I said nothing. I couldn't complain, not with the intentions I had come on this 'date' with. Embry probably just didn't want me to fall, that was all.

After a few dances I started growing weary, so I rested my head on his shoulder. I really needed all the support I could get. But my head didn't stay there long, because Embry leaned over to whisper to me, "I need to take a quick break, use the bathroom, you know?"

I nodded my head and followed him off the dance floor. He dropped my hand and I made my way towards our table from before when someone grabbed my friend behind. I spun around, ready to curse this person out for grabbing me like that, when I saw a pair of deep green eyes. My mood changed quickly.

"Edward," I hissed. He nodded his head, his lip between his teeth. I pulled out of his arms and glared up at him. "You're two hours late Edward! There's only an hour and a half left of the dance! What took you so long? Was your fake date better than me? Why don't you just go on back to her, since you obviously don't want to be here?"

"I didn't bring a fake date," he said softly, his eyes downcast. I immediately felt bad for yelling at him. But if he wasn't with his date, where was he? He had to be lying, because it doesn't take two hours to get to the school."

I frowned at him again, "Yea sure, like I'll believe that. Why don't you try and come up with a better lie next time, because that was pathetic Edward."

"I'm not lying to you Bella," he pleaded with me, but I wasn't about to listen.

"Just forget it Edward, I hope you have a good time," I said while turning away from him, tears in my eyes. I wanted to believe him, but I couldn't. He had to be lying and it hurt so bad to know this.

He caught my hand before I was too far away. I whirled around, ready to scream at him but I never got a chance. Just as I was facing him, Edward took my face in his hands and pulled my face to his, kissing me passionately on the lips. It was like nothing I had ever felt before. My senses blurred for a moment and then everything refocused on Edward. There was nothing else around me. My hands reached up and mingled in his hair, pulling at the perfect locks. His hands moved from my face down to my waist, pulling me closer to him. I gasped in shock and he took advantage of this, sliding his tongue sweetly into my mouth. We stood there, kissing one another, for what felt like hours. Nothing else mattered.

When we parted, I was dizzy. He took my hand in his, "I need to talk to you."

He said this before leading me out of the room, confused all over again.

_HOW YOU LIKE ME NOW?!_ I hope you like me a lot, because I love you guys. This is probably the longest chapter I've ever written, but I couldn't stop writing guys!! I really hope you enjoy my story, please tell all your friends about it. I love getting reviews, they are what make my stories better! Any guesses on next chapter?!


	9. A Secret to Keep

**Disclaimer: **I don't own it. I suck way too much for that.

I'm _really_ sorry guys. All I have are excuses. I suck so much. Stone much, for like 82 hours straight.

**Edward's POV**

I was late.

_Very_ Late, to be precise.

I'd promised Bella I would meet her no later than seven-thirty and it was well past nine now. But this wasn't my fault…

Alice had been incessant on taking a limo to the dance, as if it was prom or something, and that's where all of this started.

"Is a limo really necessary?" Emmett and I said, almost simultaneously.

My sister turned to look at us, an evil glint in her eyes. She hated when we argued with her. "It's quite _necessary_," she ground out, advancing on us slightly. "We are going to arrive in style and everything is going to be perfect."

That phrase – everything is going to be perfect – alone is enough evidence that things in fact would _not_ be perfect.

Emmett was displeased with Alice's response. "Why didn't you tell us yesterday you were doing this stupid limo thing? I went out and got my car washed for no reason."

"Your car needed a wash, it was filthy Em," Alice said before turning on her heel. "You two better hurry and get ready, the limo is going to be here in less than twenty."

"Rose isn't even here yet!" Emmett shouted after our sister's retreating form. "Does she know the limo time? Does she even know about this limo?!"

Alice sighed heavily and turned back to him. "First off, the limo is picking Rose up after us. Secondly, Rose booked the limo, so I would assume she knows about it. And lastly, if you don't hurry up and get ready, I am going to have mom dress you. Better yet…I'll tell Rose you're being a pain in the ass again, which I'm sure you won't want," Emmett's expression clearly exemplified that. "Now move!"

I've never seen my brother move so fast, even when he's playing sports, in my life. He was past me and up the stairs in less than a second. Alice smiled to herself, satisfied with this result. Her glory was short lived however when she turned to look at my unmoving form. She frowned at me.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't you have to get ready?" I countered. She wasn't dressed either and her make-up was not done. Knowing my sister, it would take much longer than thirty minutes for this whole process to be completed. Why did she insist on acting like mother and telling me what to do?

She saw I was willing to argue her on this and groaned. "Ugh, you're not worth the effort. Just be ready by six-thirty Edward or I will hurt you."

There was no reason to fight any further with her. The sooner we left, the sooner we got to the dancer, which meant I would finally get to see Bella. Which was all I wanted at this point.

Bella had stopped talking to me during the day and I was kind of nervous. Had I said something wrong? Was she angry with me? Did she not want to meet up with me any more? I let thoughts like these cloud my mind the entire day. I didn't want to bombard her with test messages, asking why she wasn't answering me. For all I knew her phone could have shut off or broken. It's not like she could have suddenly thought that our friendship was a total mistake and didn't want anything to do with me. Right?

I tried to keep that thought far, far away from me. I couldn't stand never speaking to Bella again. Actually, I probably wouldn't be _able_ to do so. I'd become so enamored with Bella, it would be rather impossible to just stop speaking to her all together. She meant more to me than I was willing to admit. She wasn't even my girlfriend yet. I intended on changing that soon, hopefully that night, but it all depended on her. I liked to think she would say yes if I asked her out. But I still had my doubts. It had been hard at first to convince her of being just friends, I didn't believe she'd ever consider anything more than friends.

I hurried to get ready. There was no use in trying to manage with my hair. I'd come to the conclusion, a long time ago, that my hair would never be tame. So I put in a little bit of gel and checked myself in the mirror. I looked okay. Alice had picked out my costume and had actually been nice about it. I'd been expecting some vibrant pink, filly suit with a hideous mask. Instead my suit wasn't the least bit eccentric, it actually looked pretty dashing I would be allowed to say. My mask was simple, yet elegant. My sister had been very tasteful and for that I was thankful. I could only imagine what she picked out for Emmett.

I was surprised, no I was disappointed, to see that my brother was wearing a suit very similar to my own. "I was positive Alice was going to stick you with the dumbest looking suit ever."

"See, that was my plan," Alice said as she approached us, a sly smile on her lips. Emmett's jaw dropped dramatically. "But Rose wouldn't have appreciated that much and I could never do that to her."

"So if I wasn't going with Rose, you would have?" Emmett asked in a horrified voice.

"Of course!"

I couldn't help but laugh. Emmett turned and glared at me. "Edward doesn't have a date. Why isn't he dressed up like a clown?"

"I like him better," was all she said before opening the front door. The limo was just pulling into our driveway at that moment. It was like she was physic or something. "Come on or we're going to be late."

Yet another sign that things would go wrong.

We followed Alice out to the limo. She spoke briefly with the driver before he let us inside. The ceiling was purple, with blue and green undertones. The black leather seats smelt fresh and they looked pristine. It was just like my sister to get a limo with leather seats, a TV and a bar. Emmett grabbed the remote for the TV and put on some basketball game. I didn't pay any attention, even when Alice started scolding him. Instead, I let my mind wander to Bella. Tonight was the night I would ask her to be my girlfriend.

How was I going to do this? I had to do it just right, or else everything would be a mess. Did I dare to ask her in front of Leah or should I take her aside and make it as private as possible. Privacy is a virtue. Besides, I don't really want a crowd in case I am rejected. So how do I word myself? Do I say I wanted to go out with her or do I tell her that I want her to be my girlfriend? Would she be okay with that? If she said no…what would I do? Could I handle the rejection? Everything would change. I mean, of course I'd still want to be friends, but things would be different. She'd always think I was trying to get her to date me and she'd read everything all wrong. She would never look at me the same. Did I even stand a chance? Was it selfish to want more with Bella when I already had so much?

I was taken from my thoughts when I realized just how long we had been in the limo. We had left my house a little after six in order to pick up Rose. It only took fifteen minutes to get to the school, so why did it feel like we'd been in the car for over an hour? I looked at the clock on my phone and that's when it hit me. It was 7:35. I did a double-take before saying anything.

"Alice?" I said tentatively.

She was the middle of a 'serious' conversation with Rose, so she stuck her finger up at me as a sign to wait. "No Alice, this can't wait."

"Yes it can," she said, waving a hand and me and motioning for Rose to go on. Rose looked to me, obviously more concerned over my issue than my own sister. When she saw my exasperation she gave Alice and knowing look.

"Come on Alice," I urged. Why did she always insist on being so difficult?

"You are so rude," she ground out before turning to look at me. "What?!"

"What the hell is taking so long?" I asked angrily. Alice really knew how to dance on my nerves. Tonight was supposed to be an amazing night and all she had done so far was bitch, moan, and boss everyone around. I was so sick of her. I couldn't wait to ditch the group and find Bella.

She grunted at me, "Stop being an idiot, we'll be there in like two minutes."

Without a second thought, she turned back towards Rose and immediately started talking once more. I twitched a little in irritation before looking at my phone again. 7:45.

"Do you even know the time Alice?"

"It's like 6:30," she answered, not bothering to look at her phone or watch.

"Try a quarter to 8," I said flatly.

Rose spat out the water she'd been drinking and Emmett burst into laughter, which he received a dirty glare for. Alice finally turned and looked directly at me after all the commotion. "What?"

"We should have been there an hour ago," I told her slowly. "That would be why I asked you, what is taking so long?"

Alice was instantly at the front of the limo, banging on the glass divider. "Hello," she shouted angrily as she pounded her little fists away. The driver lowered the glass before Alice got a change to break it.

"What do you think you're doing?" He shouted over his shoulder. _Bad move_, never shout at Alice, _ever_. I learned that at an early age. We were four, she had a toy I wanted and I believe yelling at her was the best way to get it back. I have never been more wrong in my life. Instead, she threw dirt in my eyes, ran into the house and locked the door. I haven't actually _yelled_ at her since.

"Excuse me," Alice spat, her finger already waggling in his face. As embarrassing as it was to have her act like this, I couldn't help but laugh a little at this guy's expense. He obviously underestimated her attitude because of her size. It's always the small ones with the biggest attitudes.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? I am paying you to take us to this dance and you yell at me? Are you serious right now! Tell me where the fuck we are or you're not getting a dime!"

This phrase seemed to make the driver a whole lot nicer. "I'm so sorry miss, let me take a look and I'll tell you exactly where we are."

Alice humped in delight and sat back to await his answers. He leaned forward and looked at the monitor for a moment before turning to look back at us. "We're just entering Fairholm now so we should be there in about fifteen minutes."

"Fifteen minutes that's not so bad," Alice mused to herself. It was a minute later when she realized what town the driver said. "Oh my god, did you say Fairholm?!"

"Yes ma'am," he sad while turning back towards the front.

"The dance is in Forks," Alice shrieked, nearly shattering my eardrums. "That's almost forty-five minutes away. Oh my god, turn around right now! We're gonna be so late! Oh my god," and before I even had a chance to say a word my sister burst into tears.

"How could this have happened," she shouted angrily. Rose scooted over to comfort Alice but it was no use. Once she was upset it took hours to calm her down. "Everything was supposed to be perfect! And now, we're going to show up like two hours late to the dance _we_ planned! Can things ever go right for us?"

When it became obvious she wasn't going to stop crying and whining, I moved next to the glass divider to talk to the driver. I made the whole situation as simple as possible and told him the exact address of our high school and even how to get there. He apologized for the misunderstanding and immediately turned around. He managed to get us to the high school just after eight-thirty. Alice finished her mini-meltdown, apologized profusely to the driver for her behavior and paid him. It was then that we were allowed to get out of the limo and actually enter the dance.

As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by loud music and massive amount of dancing teenagers. The gym was decorated to fit the theme, while the music didn't. All the tables were pretty much empty, seeing as the majority of the students had converged to the dance floor. We picked a table and set our stuff down and that is when I made my move to completely leave them but Emmett seemed to notice.

"Where ya goin' man?" He grabbed my wrist and yanked me back. I pulled my arm out of his grasp and sighed.

"I'm going to find someone to dance with," I said as quickly as possible. I did not feel like blatantly lying to him and if I stood there any longer, I would be forced to.

"Since when do you dance Edward?" Rose quipped from Emmett's side. I bit my lip, wanting to reply that I wasn't actually going to dance but that would lead to a completely different conversation I had no intentions of actually going into.

"I was just cooped in a limo with Alice for two hours, I need to do _something_ to release my tension," and before they had a chance to protest further, I began to back away from them and head towards the crowd. "I'll see you later," I shouted over the loud music and then turned away from them.

I immediately began scanning the crowd for Bella. If I remembered correctly, Leah had mentioned something about Bella wearing royal blue with a black mask. So when I scanned the faces in the masses I had to look for beautiful brown hair, creamy white skin, and lips that were begging to be kissed. That would be easy enough.

After nearly ten minutes of non-stopping searching, I realized it wasn't exactly all that easy. A lot of girls had on blue dresses with black masks, but once I got close I knew they weren't my Bella. If there hair and skin were the same, I knew as soon as I saw there eyes. No one had eyes like her. They were absolutely captivating. This made things a tiny bit hard. All this searching made my really wish we had picked a designated spot to meet.

I was just about ready to ask the DJ to call her to the meet me outside when I finally spotted her. I was standing roughly fifty feet away but I knew it was her. She was dancing with a boy probably taller than myself with the same skin color as Jacob and Leah. They were laughing and that's what caught my attention, her beautiful smile. I began walking towards her and then I remembered…she was with someone. I stood still for a moment. What was I supposed to do? That was her date. She was surely angry that I was so late and didn't give her any warning, but I didn't have my phone. Had I, she would have been the first to know. What if she didn't want to see me? What if she realized we could never be more than just friends and this guy was the guy for her? I shook these dumb thoughts from my head and began walking towards her once more. I would not think like that.

The boy leaned in to whisper to her and instinctively growled at how close he actually got to her. She nodded her head and then the boy walked away from her, Bella turning around to follow directly after. I was just within arms reach, so I did the first thing I thought to. I grabbed her.

"Edward," she hissed. Her usually vibrant eyes were dark once she recognized my features. So I hadn't been wrong about her being angry.

I nodded my head dumbly at her, my lip between my teeth. She pulled her arm out of my gasp and glared up at me.

"You're two hours late Edward! There's only an hour and a half left of the dance! What took you so long? Was your fake date better than me? Why don't you just go on back to her, since you obviously don't want to be here?" Her tone was sharp, but low. She didn't want others to hear.

"I didn't bring a fake date," I said softly, unable to meet her eyes. I had never planned on bringing a fake-date. She was the only person I wanted to be with.

She frowned at me again, "Yea sure, like I'll believe that. Why don't you try and come up with a better lie next time, because that was pathetic Edward."

"I'm not lying to you Bella," I pleaded with her, but it didn't appear as if she wanted to listen.

"Just forget it Edward, I hope you have a good time," She said while turning away from me, tears in her eyes. That was it. She couldn't walk away from me, not like that.

I reached out and grabbed her hand once more. She had no time to react before I whirled her around to face me. I took her little face in my hands and pulled to my own and did what I've been dying to do all along. I kissed her. It was like nothing I had ever felt before. My senses blurred for a moment and then my whole world centered around Bella. There was nothing else around me. Her tiny hands reached up and mingled into my hair, pulling at it. I moved my hands from her face down to her waist and pulled her closer to me. She gasped in shock and I couldn't help but take advantage of this and deeper our kiss. We stood there, kissing one another, for what felt like hours. Nothing else mattered.

When we parted, I had only one thing on my mind. I took her hand in and mine before saying, "I need to talk to you," and then lead her out of the room.

We walked outside in silence. I made sure to get as far away from people as possible before stopping and turning to face her. I wanted to pause and think of something cool to say, but I had nothing. I was completely blank.

She was biting her lip while looking at me, her eyes mixed with confusion and sorrow.

"Bella, I don't know how to say this," I started, trying desperately to think of a better way to express my feelings for her.

She sighed and looked away from me, "The kiss was a mistake, wasn't it?"

"What?" Was my elegant response.

"You regret it, it's obvious," she said in a small voice. "I'm sorry, but I don't think my emotions can handle having you actually tell me that. So if you don't mind, I'm gonna find Leah and go…"

"Bella, no," I almost shouted, grabbing her at the wrists. She looked up at me, absolutely puzzled. "I'm a dick, I'm sorry I totally said that wrong before."

"Said what?"

"That 'I don't know how to say this," I repeated for her.

"If you're not saying the kiss was a mistake, then what are you saying?"

I took in a deep breath and then just dived into it. "I want to be with you."

It was her turn to now say, "What?"

"I've wanted to be with you for a while now, I've just been too much of a coward to say anything. Bella, you mean so much to me. I think about you all the time. I love everything about you. Your smile, your life, your eyes…everything is just beautiful about you. You're an amazing person and I guess what I'm trying to really say is…will you be my girlfriend?"

"I…I don't know what to say," she gasped, looking a little taken aback.

"I'd really like it if you said yes," I replied nervously.

A smile broke out onto her lips. "Do you really mean it? You…you actually like me?"

"It isn't obvious?" I ask.

Her grin was now spread from ear to ear. "Of course I'll be your girlfriend!"

Instantly my arms wrap around her and pull her close to me. I breathe her in for a second before speaking. "Thank God, because I'd have no idea what to do if you said no."

"Like any girl would ever turn you down," she giggled into my chest.

"You're the only girl I'd ever ask."

We were silent for a while, just holding each other but nothing was awkward. Everything felt exactly right. As if we finally found our place. I never wanted the moment to end. "What are you doing after this?"

"Going back to Leah's," she sighed, sounding slightly tired. "I'm gonna crash as soon as we get there. I'll probably pass out in this dumb dress and she'll take a picture and send it to Jake. She loves embarrassing me."

"You think she'd show me the picture?"

"Oh definitely, she'd know it would totally mortify me," her voice was so serious I couldn't help but laugh. It was kind of funny how little of faith she had in Leah sometimes. "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about my phone!"

"Same here," I said, suddenly remembering what happened earlier. "What happened to yours?"

"The evil Ms. O took it from me, my mother has to pick it up tomorrow," she replied angrily, pulling away from me to cross her arms over her chest.

She pouted adorably and I couldn't contain my laughter. She glared at me, "What did you do?"

"Nothing!" She replied. "I swear."

"So she just walked up to you and demanded you hand over your phone?"

"Basically!"

"Where was your phone?"

"Um…out," she said, her head turned away from me.

"Oh, but there was no actual reason for her to take it?"

"She hates me I swear," Bella said with a huff.

"I'm sure she does sweety," I said in agreement, pulling her back to me.

We had just settled back into a comfortable silence, watching the stars when a voice broke out into the night. "Bella, are you out here?"

_Leah_.

"Over here Lee," Bella shouted back. She turned in the direction Leah's voice had come from. I stepped up beside her.

"We're telling her?"

"Um," she looked at me, obviously not having thought about that yet. It took her only a minute to decide. "She probably knew before we did."

I went to reply but it was then that Leah turned the corner, followed by Jacob and the boy Bella had been dancing with earlier. "Hey Bells, we were looking for you everywhere…Edward?"

Bella's face went white as she stood stock still. Leah saw the change in expression immediately and looked between the two of us. Her eyes narrowed for a minute before she whirled around, "Jake, Em go to the car. We'll be there in a minute."

"Excuse me?" Jacob replied, sounding rather offended. "No 'please' or anything?"

"Jacob!" Leah screeched. The defiant look Jacob had on his face completely vanished. He ducked his head towards Embry, who was currently laughing at Jacob. I had to stifle my own laughter.

"Okay, sorry babe," he mumbled before turning around. He bumped into Embry and then stormed off towards where I assumed his car was. Embry was shaking with laughter as he turned to leave.

He was just around the corner when he turned back around, "Hey Bella."

"Yea," Bella responded quickly, welcoming this slight distraction.

"Embry, go!" Leah shouted at him but he didn't seem all that phased.

"Yea yea Lee," he waved a hand at her. "Thanks for a great night Bella, you looked beautiful."

My fists tightened when I noticed how he was looking at her. Bella seemed to sense this because she reached out to grab my hand. My fists unclenched and my fingers intertwined with hers.

"No problem Em, thank you," she said with a small smile, waving him away.

His eyes were now focused on our linked hands. His mood seemed to alter as he backed away and nodded in response to Bella. He looked at us for one long moment before walking out of sight.

"Oh my God," Leah shouted, not even giving us a slight chance to speak.

"Leah, hold on," Bella let go of my hand to walk towards her friend.

"How long?!"

"Lee, it's been like twenty minutes. You know you're the first person we would tell…well the only person we plan on telling for now."

Leah squealed as she grabbed Bella's hand. She had a humungous smile on her face. "I am so good! Ugh, you tooooold me you would never and look at where you are!"

"I know," Bella said while blushing deeply.

Leah was bouncing on her toes with excitement. "Eddie, you won't mind if I take Bells. I need to have a like four hour long conversation with her about all of this."

"I mean, I don't—"

"Of course you wont, oh you're definitely a keeper," she beamed at me, rushing forward to give me a tight hug. Quickly her arms dropped and she moved back to Bella's side. "Let's go, we have much to discuss!"

"Gimme a minute, I'll meet you at the car," Bella said while looking at me.

"Ugh, fine," Leah groaned. "You have one minute or else I'm coming back and I don't think I'll be all that enjoyable when I'm back!"

"One minute, I promise," Bella replied.

Leah squealed once again before rushing off towards the car. Bella turned to me and let out a heavy sigh. "I thought she'd never leave!"

I closed the space between us and took her into my arms once again, kissing her forehead lightly. I felt her smile against my chest. "Call me before bed?"

"I think I can do that," she said as she pulled back. She stood on her tip toes and pressed her soft lips to mine. I kissed her back delicately before she pulled away. "Goodnight, I'll talk to you later."

"Night babe," I said kissing her once more. "Have fun with Leah."

"I'll try," she said with a slight groan before backing away. "I won't forget to call."

"Thank you."

She grinned widely at me before turning around and walking away. She threw one last glance my way before turning the corner. I sighed contentedly; happy things had gone my way. The night couldn't get any better. Literally, because I had to see my family after this which meant it actually was about to get kind of shitty. I hadn't even thought about that until now. _Fuck._

A.N. – Please, tell me your honest thoughts. You can be mean to me about how long it took to update, I promise you guys it wont be another three months before the next chapter. Probably 2 weeks tops. Go see Harry Potter at midnight.


	10. One Month

**Love Story**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own it. I suck way too much for that.

_Hey, I need a beta who can kick my lazy butt into writing. If anyone's still reading this, and you're interested in being that beta for me, could you please email me? My email should be on my page, if it isn't send me a P.M. In your email or P.M. please enclose a snippet from a story you're written or beta'd just so I can get a sense of your work._

The beach was completely empty.

I was all alone, walking along the edge of the warm ocean water. The sun was high in the sky, shining down on me.

I'd been walking by myself for a while, just enjoying the soft sand beneath my feet. I wasn't usually the kind of person who enjoyed the beach, but I couldn't help but take pleasure in the serenity of this place. The water lapping up against the shore had created a soothing melody that lulled time away. I had no idea how long I had been here or where I was going, but I didn't mind. Everything about where I was…was _perfect_.

"Bella!" Speaking of perfect, I spun around to see Edward running towards me. I stopped in my tracks and waited for him. He was at my side instantly, "Where have you been?"

"Here," I motioned towards the open ocean with a smile. He grinned back at me.

"Without me? I think that's a little unfair," he took my hand in his and began to direct me into the water.

"I still have all my clothes on!" I said with a giggle, but Edward continued to tug me behind him.

"That's fine, they'll dry off," he said over his shoulder. By this point, we were already knee deep in the water. Seeing as I wasn't going to get out of this, I decided to play around. I took my hand out of Edwards and then pushed past him, running deeper into the water. He knew instantly what I was doing and began to chase me. I splashed at him and he returned the favor.

"Bella come here," he called after me, but I didn't listen. I just kept running. "Isabella, come here!"

A loud whistle screeched and the image of the beach vanished. I shook my head and opened my eyes. I was no longer in the crystal clear water, but standing in the middle of the Forks High gymnasium, with fifty faces staring me down. Ms. Mac had the whistle perched on her lips and her hands on her hips.

"Ms. Swan, must I ask you to come here once more?" She practically snarled. I shook my head no and jogged to her side. She pulled my aside and turned her back on the other students. "I will not have students' day dreaming in my class Ms. Swan. Am I understood?"

"Yes," I mumbled. I hadn't even realized I was day dreaming, but then again I guess that's the whole point of a day dream. "I'm sorry Ms. Mac."

"That's fine, just don't do it again," she scolded. "It's not like you can afford to not pay attention."

I had been about to walk back onto the court but her statement caused me to turn back around. "What's that supposed to mean?"

She laughed slightly causing her skin to crinkle around her eyes. "Well, you don't honestly think you're any good at sports, do you Ms. Swan?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. This fat, forty-something year old bitch was really accusing me of being bad at gym? It was quite obvious she hadn't run in the past fifteen to twenty years, so there was absolutely no way she could participate any better than myself. In fact, she is so fat that even _I_ could take her in a one-on-one game. But if I admitted the truth was though, I am awful when it came to sports. I lack any coordination when it comes to that field, that much was obvious. At the same time, I did not appreciate having my teacher mocking me for it. Especially a teacher who has _no_ room to talk.

"Don't get me wrong," she started to say once she saw my aggravated expression.

"It's whatever," I replied, waving her off before walking back onto the court. I took my place behind Mike Newton and acted as if nothing had happened.

I was doing a good job of pretending, too bad there had been others to witness it. "I don't understand why you have such an attitude Swan."

I turned around to see who had decided to call me out. Lauren Mallory stood there, finger combing her hair, with Jessica Stanley and Angela Weber at her sides. Figures she'd have her cronies with her.

"I'm not in the mood Lauren," was all I said before turning back towards the net. She coughed something behind my back that sounded an awful lot like the word 'bitch'. My tempter flared and I spun around once again and glared daggers at her.

"Really? You're resorting to cough insults Lauren? That's so patheitc, I thought even _you_ knew that," her blue eyes widened at my remark. "Clearly you're too dimwitted. Now, if you're done with your stupidity, I think I'm going to go back to my life and you go move on with yours, not like there's much to it."

Lauren was not stumped by my response, as I'd hoped for. Instead, she seemed fueled. She stepped in towards me, her friends following. "I see jealously has gotten the best of you."

I looked at her for a long moment. "What the hell does that mean?"

She laughed, Jessica and Angela following suit. "As if you don't already know. You're jealous about Edward."

"Edward Cullen?" I said with slight confusion. Why was she talking about Edward?

"Everyone knows Bella," Lauren said with an evil smirk. I felt my heart drop to my feet and my face pale. I stared forward, waiting for her to continue. What was I going to do? Everyone knew about Edward and me. We were so fucked. My mom was going to kill me, then kill Edward, then is mom would kill us both.

"Look at her face, she's so pissed," Jessica said with a sneer causing the other two to laugh. A crowd had now formed around us. Lauren, Jessica, and Angela were like lions, ready to pounce on me, the helpless antelope.

"Edward's mine," Lauren said fiercely. "I see the way you look at him in Bio. Did you think you were being sly?"

_Okay…she thinks I like Edward, she doesn't know we're together._ I let out a sigh of relief mentally before responding. If I played it cool, she wouldn't get any ideas. "He sits next to me. I'm kind of forced to look at him."

"Yeah right," Lauren said while shaking her head at me. "It's so obvious you're like in love with him. I mean, you practically drool all over him. It's so pathetic."

"You're calling me pathetic?" I didn't even stop to think before I said my next few words. "You're the one over here pretending as if Edward actually gives two shits about you. You're nothing but a nuisance to him. He would never, in a million years, date you."

Lauren's face turned scarlet at this. "How would you know? You're not even allowed to talk to him!"

"I…I…" I stood there, completely dumb founded for a moment. How did I know? Luck was on my side at that moment, because the bell sounded and everyone began to herd back towards the locker rooms. Lauren however stood her ground and waited for my response.

I didn't have any answer for her and if I stood there any longer, I was going to pummel her to the ground for daring to talk about my boyfriend. I collected all my dignity and pushed past her on my way to the locker room.

"Shows how much you know," she called after me. "We have a date tonight!"

I stopped dead in my tracks. Did she just say _date_?

"Jealous much," she snickered in my ear before passing me. I stood frozen, unable to follow her into the locker rooms. She had to be lying. There was no way Edward was going on a date with Lauren. _No fucking way_.

The bell rang again, signaling that students were now late to class. Instead of going to change, I ran out into the hallways. If I jogged, and he was late, I could quite possibly catch Edward before he went to Advanced Lit.

The halls were mainly empty aside from the few stragglers. I must have looked particularly strange running around in my gym clothes, but I didn't honestly care. I had more important things to tend to. I just skidded around a corner when I spied Alice and Edward standing next to a window.

"…I thought this would be good for you," Alice replied in an annoyed tone.

"You honestly thought it was a good idea to go behind my back and do this?" Even from this distance, I could see the aggravation in Edward's eyes. He did not look pleased.

"You never appreciate anything I do for you!" Alice shrieked. I took a step back at this, startled by her infuriation. I wound up backing up directly into someone, knocking both them and myself down.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," I began to sputter before I noticed who this stranger was. My face fell. "…Embry?"

"Hey," he beamed, his bright smile dazed me for a moment. I shook my head, a little confused by his presence. Embry did not go to our school, or at least not from what I could remember. So what was he doing here?

"Bella?" Edward called from down the hallway. I turned to look at him, giving him an exasperated look. Alice stared at her brother for a moment before turning her fiery green eyes towards me. She didn't look the slightest bit confused by her brother's acknowledgement of me.

I untangled myself from Embry and stood up abruptly. "Uhm, sorry Em. I'll see you later."

Without a word to Edward, I turned back around and ran in the direction I had come from. I heard footfalls behind me, but I didn't turn around to see who was following me. I just kept running until I reached the girls locker rooms. I almost, _almost_, made it inside but was stopped by a hand on my arm.

"Why are you running from me?" Edward asked, slightly out of breath.

"I don't know," I replied, shaking my head at him. "Maybe because you just blew our cover in front of your sister and Embry."

"I didn't blow our cover, I—"

I didn't let him finish his sentence. "Or it may be because of your supposed date with Lauren tonight. I don't know, you pick a reason to go with."

I wrenched my arm out of his grasp and took a step back. "If this is some attempt at 'keeping our cover,' I don't think I'm going to be able to comply."

Edward sighed heavily before responding. "I really hate my sister."

"Okay, good for you," I replied nastily. I bit my tongue for a moment. I had never been this angry with Edward before, so I had never been this rude. I wasn't entirely sure I enjoyed it.

He moved to take my hand in his but I pulled back. "I guess I have some explaining to do," I just stared at him in response. "Alice is convinced that I need a girlfriend and she thought setting me up with Lauren, with absolutely no notice to me, would be a good idea."

My mind immediately recalled the conversation I had walked on and suddenly things made sense. And I felt like an _asshole_. Before Edward could say another word I threw my arms around his neck, "I'm sorry," I whispered before letting go. "Lauren taunted me and I got really upset, and she said that and I just jumped to conclusions. I really shouldn't have, I mean she is rarely ever honest. And you would never do that to me, you're too much of a sweetheart."

"Shh Bells," Edward whispered as he wrapped his arms around me. He held me tight to his chest for a few moments before letting go. "Lauren's annoying. She can get anyone worked up enough."

"Yeah, so" I mumbled, my eyes downcast. I pretended to focus on the dirt on my sneakers, rather than look up at Edward. "What are you going to do about the date?"

"I'll take care of that in Biology," Edward replied smugly. I finally looked up to see him smirking. "So, I guess you'll have to wait another 20 minutes to find out."

"Very funny," I rolled my eyes when Edward started to laugh. But my mind was brought back to his conversation with Alice and the way she looked at the two of us and I was concerned all over again. "You totally blew our cover."

"Huh?"

I looked around before speaking and realized we were standing in the middle of the hallway, where _anyone_ could just waltz in on us. I grabbed his hand and dragged him into the girls' locker room. I pushed him towards the benches, turned and locked the door before going back to our conversation.

"You know, I've always wondered what it looked like on the inside of the girls' locker room," Edward said in a low voice, making his way over to me. I put a hand on his chest and pushed him back, forcing him to sit.

"You would want to see a bunch of girls getting changed, wouldn't you," I replied with a smirk. Edward frowned at this.

"No, just one girl."

"Ugh Edward, we're not going down that road right now," I replied with a heavy sigh. "I'm trying to be serious right now!"

"I'm very serious," Edward went to stand once more but I pushed him back down. "Okay, okay I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. You know I'm not actually serious, well I mean I do want to see that but not now, we're not there yet in our relationship and all. I was just kidding, I'm—"

I couldn't help but laugh at how cute Edward was. Of course he'd think I was upset about him wanting to see me naked, "You're sorry, I get it Edward. But that's not what I'm upset about."

"Okay," he said, becoming quiet. He averted his full attention to me and waited for me to go on.

"We have a problem here," I said slowly. Edward gave me a confused look. "Embry and your sister _know_ about us. We have damage control to do."

"My sister doesn't know and well, even if that Embry guy knows, it's not like he goes to school with us. He won't tell anyone who doesn't already know, i.e. Leah and Jake," Edward tried to reason.

"Jake doesn't know!" My voice was a lot higher than I anticipated it being. Edward chuckled at the highness. I frowned at him for laughing at me, but he just laughed harder. He stretched his long arms out and snatched me by my waist, pulling me into his lap. I struggled to get up because I was freaking out at this point. This was so bad. His sister hated me. She was bound to tell his mom. And Embry was probably really bitter about the dance and he was definitely going to try and spite me and tell anyone he could about my secret relationship. We were so doomed. Edward put a calming had on my cheek and turned my head towards him. I frowned heavily but looked into his emerald eyes. I couldn't help but stop my worrying and just look at him. He was smiling sweetly at me.

"Don't worry," was all he said.

There were a million things I wanted to shout at Edward over how there was _no_ way I could not worry at this point, but none of them came out. Instead I continued staring into his eyes. He was pleading with me to calm down. He didn't look worried in the slightest, which should mean something. If he wasn't worried, then maybe I shouldn't be. He is my boyfriend; I should trust that he wouldn't ruin this. He wanted to be with me. He promised to be with me, he wasn't willing to risk that, was he?

Instead of fighting him on the matter, I rested my head on his shoulder and let out a big sigh. He pressed his lips to my neck and gave me a tight squeeze, I giggled as his kiss tickled me. I felt him smile against my neck before pulling away.

"As much as I would love just sitting here with you, I have a feeling the bell is going to ring any moment Bells," Edward said, breaking the calm silence. "And I don't think the two of us being found all over each other in the girl's locker room would be the best things for us right now."

That would be _very_ bad. I laughed at the thought of my mother getting a phone call over me and Edward being found canoodling in the girls' locker room. The face she'd make would be priceless. And then I'd be dead.

"You're right," I agreed, attempting to stand up, but Edward still had his arms wrapped tight around me. I turned to look at him and he was smiling. "Edward?"

Before I could say anymore he pressed his lips to mine and I completely forgot what I was going to say. Instead I focused all of my attention on how perfect Edwards's lips felt against mine. His tongue flitted across my bottom lip and I couldn't help but sigh. He took this as an advantage to deepen the kiss. His hands were cupping my cheeks in a matter of seconds, with his thumbs tenderly massaging them. I'd kissed plenty of people before Edward, but no kiss even came close to his. I wasn't sure if his kisses were so good because of the fact he was an amazing kisser or if it had to do with the fact that I had been dreaming of the day I'd be able to kiss Edward and now it seemed I'd get to do it just about whenever I wanted.

He pulled away way too early for my liking, but I didn't protest much. I just frowned at him lightly and did my best job to give him puppy dog eyes.

"I'm sorry love," he said quickly, pressing his lips to mine for a short, sweet kiss. "But, the bell. Remember?"

"Oh yeah," I replied, not actually concerned over the bell. I'd much rather kiss him.

Edward dropped his arms from my waist and I was finally allowed to stand up. He stood up after me and pulled me back to him for a hug. I snuggled as close as possible to him and inhaled his scent. I could really get used to how good he smelt.

He dropped a kiss to my forehead before letting go, "I'll see you in biology."

I felt my cheeks go pink as I watched him walk towards the door. He pulled it open slowly, ducked his head out to check if the coast was clear and stepped back into the room to look at me. He gave me his classic crooked-grin before leaving me all together. I let out a breath I hadn't even realized I'd been holding in.

"Bye," I said my voice barely above a whisper, in the empty room. The bell rang loudly as soon as I'd spoken.

Edward was waiting for me at our table as soon as I'd walked into Bio. I flashed him a bright smile before taking my seat beside him. The room was fairly empty aside from the nerdy kids who got to class extra early, but their noses were buried deep in their text books, paying Edward and myself no mind.

"Hello," Edward said in a low voice. I turned to see a piece of paper sitting in front of me.

"What's this?" I asked my voice as low as his. I quickly scanned the room just to make sure no one was looking at us.

"Just read it," he replied with a smile before turning his attention to the board, where Ms. O had written a long note for us.

I quickly unfolded the note and began to read.

_My Bella,_

_I'm not sure if you've noticed this, but it's been exactly one month, today, that we've been a couple. _

He was right. I hadn't even noticed! I'm a terrible girlfriend. I mean, yes one month isn't exactly a miracle run, but it was a long time for us to go undiscovered. But then again, that reminded me of what had happened earlier today. Instead of getting worried all over again, I read on.

_I was hoping you'd let me spoil you a little bit and give you a surprise? Well, you don't have much say on that. I'm going to do it anyway._

It's just like Edward to do that. He knows I'm not big on surprises, but he continues on doing them for my anyhow.

_I'll pick you up from Leah's house at 4. Please don't be too mad at me?_

He knew I wasn't going to be mad whatsoever. I couldn't get mad at him. At least, not for long.

When I looked back at him he was beaming at me. "You're a lucky boy," was all I said before I began to pull out my books.

"I know, I have you after all," he said very low, but I caught it and I felt my cheeks burn red. I turned around to say something, but I was caught off guard by the fact he was standing up.

"What are you doing?" I mouthed, my eyes flitting around the classroom. It was pretty much full but Ms. O still wasn't there.

"Damage control," he mouthed back before walking away. I turned to follow him with my eyes. He stopped directly in front of Lauren's desk. She was in mid-conversation with Jessica when she saw Edward standing there. She flashed him what I expect was an attempt at a sexy smirk but it wound up looking more like a pained grin. I could see Edward cringe. Lauren glared at me with a pompous look in her eyes before turning her full attention to Edward.

"Edward," she drawled out. I'd never imagined that his name could ever sound bad, but coming out of her mouth, it sounded awful. "Where are we going on our date tonight?"

"Actually, I wanted to speak with you about that. Would you mind if we spoke in private?" Edward said, trying his best to be polite. I could tell it was hard. Lauren was quite possibly the hardest person to be polite too.

Lauren turned to look at Jessica who gave her a strange look. "Whatever you have to say Edward, you can say it in front of my friends."

"Are you sure? I'd really think you'd prefer this to be in private," Edward practically pleaded. It was incredibly sweet of him to not want to publicly embarrass her. When Lauren just glared at him, it was obvious to Edward she had no intentions of complying. He let out a sigh before saying, "We're not going on a date Lauren."

She and Jessica looked at one another before bursting out into laughter. "Oh, you're so funny Edward. But seriously, what did you have to say?"

I could tell Edward's patience had run thin. "I'm not joking Lauren. My sister was poorly mistaken in thinking I needed a date. I'm already involved with someone. Therefore, like I said, we're not going on a date."

Lauren's face fell at this. "What?"

"I think I've made myself entirely clear. I apologize on my sister's behalf. She led you to believe I had interest in you, when I _clearly_ have none."

I had to bite back my laughter at this. Lauren was practically shaking with rage. "You have got to be kidding me. No one turns me down! No one!"

"I'm sorry to have changed your luck," Edward sad as he turned to walk away.

"Who are you involved with?" Lauren shouted at him. Instead of gracing her with a response, Edward took his seat next to me and looked forward, Ms. O walking in at the perfect time.

I was shaking with laughter at this point. "That was perfect," I whispered.

Edward smirked, but didn't reply. I contained my giggles and attempted to focus on what Ms. O was lecturing on. This was a lot harder than I thought. My mind began to wander towards Edward's note. What were we going to do? What kind of surprise could he have come up with it? Would I like it? Of course I would! Everything Edward does is perfect, so this was bound to be perfect. There was no need to stress over something as simple as Edward surprising me.

"Everything okay?" Edward whispered. He was copying the notes from the board, but his eyes were on me. It was then that I realized my book was unopened and I was staring blankly at a wall, while everyone else was paying attention. Even the stoners were attempting to pay attention. Of course it looked like something was off with me. I shook my head to clear it and smiled lightly at Edward.

"I'm fine," I assured him. He smirked at me before going back to copying notes. The bell rang before I got a chance to copy down a single word.

"You can use mine, love" Edward said in a hush before sweeping out of the room. I just stared after him for a moment before coming back down to reality. Lauren was glaring at me evilly. I blushed brightly before clumsily collecting all my things and scurrying out of the classroom.

It was obvious Leah was in on Edward's little surprise, because when I walked up to her after class she was bouncing on her toes with excitement. I rolled my eyes dramatically at her before opening my locker.

"Aren't you even a little bit excited?" She practically shouted at me.

I traded some of the books in my bag for notebooks before responding. "Of course I'm excited. I love spending time with him."

"Because you love him," Leah sang out the word love while giving me a knowing look.

"I do not love him," I said quickly. "We've been together for a month! I can't love him! I mean, even if I did, it's not like he loves me back, and he never will. So there's no point in loving him. I just need to be happy I'm lucky enough to date him."

I wasn't finished rambling, but the look on Leah's face caused me to stop talking. "What?"

"Are you done being in denial?" She asked me after a long moment. I guess I looked moderately confused by what she said, because Leah sighed loudly before grabbing my face and looking me directly in the eyes. "You two are _crazy_ about each other. Why else would you be risking everything to be together? That's love baby. And it has been ever since that night on the roof top."

I gawked at her for a long moment. She was not bringing up that night on the roof and trying to say she'd known, since that moment, Edward and I were in love. She was completely wasted! That statement was just ludicrous. But she made a slightly good point. Edward and I were pretty much risking _everything_ just to be together. I knew, deep down, that what I felt for Edward was scarily strong, but yet I knew it was beautiful. He made me feel like I mattered, like I was someone who was important. Everything about him made me a smile and I would kill just to see his smile. He was everything I could possibly ask for and more. I'd believed I was a happy person before Edward, but I was sourly mistaken. True happiness came when I was with Edward. We could be doing absolutely nothing, but as long as we were together I was happy and perfectly content. I guess, maybe that could be considered love. But that was a subject I was far too afraid to approach with Edward. I couldn't imagine him rejecting my love. I'd be so broken. The thought alone could bring me to tears.

Leah brought me back to the here now by shaking my head. I forgot she'd been holding my face in her slender, tan hands. "I know my words were beautiful, but that's no reason to cry love bug."

"I wasn't crying," I said, but then I felt a tear slide down my cheek and splash against my collarbone. Okay, maybe I was crying…

Leah didn't catch the sadness of my tears. I wasn't about to be a Debbie Downer, so instead I forced out a laugh and pretended to agree with her. "Who knew you were so sentimental Lee."

"I know, really," Leah let go of my face and spun around.

"Really what?" Jake asked as he came up, snatching Leah into his arms and pulling her close to him. I took this as an opportunity to turn around and catch my breath. There was no reason to cry. There was no reason to be stressed. It is my one month anniversary with the perfect boy. All I should be doing is smiling at this point.

"You coming Bells?" Leah asked. By the look on her face, she'd been calling me for quite some time now. I smiled at her and nodded. She was sure to question me on this later.

Leah and I had been in the middle reading magazines and quizzing each other on relationships, all at her demand, when my phone starting ringing. I didn't have to look at the screen to know it was Edward calling.

"Hello?"

"Hey," his soft voice flittered over the phone. I blushed at the sound. "I'm outside, care to join me?"

I grabbed my bag before responding. Leah frowned at me, upset I was leaving so soon. I gave her a hug before dashing out of the room. "I'll be out in a second."

"See you then," Edward said with a laugh and then hung up. I smiled before slipping my phone into the back pocket of my jeans.

Leah followed me down the stairs and to the front door. I turned to look at her, curious as to why she was standing there. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay before you left."

"I'm fine Lee," I said, no idea as to why she looked so worried.

"Are you sure?" She bit her lip as she waited for me to respond.

"You're so weird Lee, I'm perfectly fine! I'll call you after the date," I swung open her front door and was half way out before I turned to her, "Love you best friend!"

This got a smile out of her. She pushed the door open further, waved at Edward and then beamed back at me. "Love you! Have fun and don't forget to call!"

"I won't," I shouted over my shoulder as I jogged towards Edward's car. Leah stood and watched us until the car was out of sight. I would compare her to my mother, but that was not a realistic comparison. My mother would've chased us down the street.

We drove in a comfortable silence. I shut my eyes and rested my head against the window and just waited for the car to stop. I didn't wait much longer.

"We're here," Edward said while nudging me with his hand. I peeked one eye open to see him grinning at me. I opened the other eye and turned to look out the window. I couldn't make out much beside a bunch of trees. There was a tiny dirt path stuck in the middle of two oak trees, but it didn't look big enough to go very far. I turned towards Edward, confused by our location.

He only smirked at me before getting out of the car, snatching a bag from the backseat as he did so. It was obvious I wasn't getting any answers. This was supposed to be a surprise after all. So, I unbuckled myself and followed my boyfriend out of the car. He took my hand in his once I was at his side. I allowed him to drag me onto the tiny dirt path, despite how cryptic it appeared to be. We walked along it for quite some time. The path seemed to stretch on forever. It was perfectly lined with millions of trees, keeping the sun far from it. After what felt like ages, I finally spotted a clearing at the end of the path. I was close to running full speed at the path, totally freaked out by the eerie path, but Edward squeezed my hand and managed to calm me without speaking a word.

"I hope you like it," he said as we stepped into the clearing. I was speechless.

The clearing was like something from a dream. The grass was a vibrant green that waved in the soft wind. The sun had begun to set, casting a pink tinge to the clearing. Little white flowers speckled the grass, which seemed to stretch past the sky. I couldn't see an end to this clearing, it went on for days. I could hear running water, somewhere in this distance. Birds were chirping enthusiastically all around me. The place was alive, in a beautiful sense. I spun around to see Edward setting a blanket down on the ground. He began to pull little plastic containers out of his bag and set them down. I bit my lip as I walked over to him.

"This is gorgeous Edward," I finally said. He turned to look at me. "Where are we?"

"It doesn't have a name," he said with a slight shrug, settling down on the blanket as he did so. He took my hand and pulled me down on top of him. I giggled as we both rolled around together. I wound up on top of him at some point and I was totally out of breath from laughing so hard.

Edward leaned back on his elbows and looked up at me. "You're so beautiful Bella."

I could feel my cheeks betray me and blush crimson. I duck my head away from him and it was then that I saw what he'd been setting up on the blanket for us. It was dinner. _How romantic._ I felt my heart clutch at the sincerity of all of this. No one had ever been so classically cliché, yet absolutely adorable for me in my entire life. I would never forget this moment.

"You did all this for me?" I asked, absolutely in awe.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" Edward asked.

I slid off his lap and scooted towards the food. I handed him and plate while I took one for myself. I didn't look at him. "I don't know. I mean, this seems like it took a lot of effort. I'm not worth much effort."

Edward had been in the middle of chewing on a piece of bread when he stopped to gap at me. "You're joking, right?"

"Edward, this is so amazing. I've never been treated so well. No one ever actually acted like they cared. I don't understand this," I said, still refusing to look at him.

Edward set his plate down and inched closer to me. I kept my head down all the while. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me Bella. I couldn't be any happier than when I'm with you," he went to keep talking but his cell phone rang loudly. Instead of answering the call, he hit his ignore button and went on. "The fact that no one's ever treated you liked they cared before couldn't make me any angrier. You're an amazing person. You deserve the very best," once more Edwards's phone began to blare his ringtone. He looked down and hit the ignore button for a second time. "I more than just care about you. Bella, I know that we haven't exactly been official for all that long, but I can't keep this in any longer. I—"

I wished he would go on, but it seemed quite obvious that whoever was calling him was not going to let up. "Just answer it, this can wait."

Edward gave me a pleading look but I nodded towards his still ringing phone. He sighed before answering, "What is it Alice?"

My whole body went rigid at that name. I swallowed hard and waited to see what she said. I couldn't exactly make at what she was saying, but by the look on Edwards face, it was bad. His face went very dark as he hung up the phone.

"You were right, she knows," was all he said as he stood up abruptly, our conversation from a few seconds ago completely forgotten.

I suck. I know, there are no explanations just excuses. I'm making no promises on the next update, hopefully a lot quicker than this came.


	11. Could it be?

_**Love Story**_

**Disclaimer:**__I own not a thing.

_Happy New Year…yeah, I'm really late. I am so sorry guy : ( I am going to try my hardest to get back into all my stories. I have fallen into such a funk; I hope you don't all hate me. If anyone out there is still reading, I hope you enjoy this chapter._

_Edward gave me a pleading look but I nodded towards his still ringing phone. He sighed before answering, "What is it Alice?"_

_My whole body went rigid at that name. I swallowed hard and waited to see what she said. I couldn't exactly make at what she was saying, but by the look on Edwards face, it was bad. His face went very dark as he hung up the phone._

_"You were right, she knows," was all he said as he stood up abruptly, our conversation from a few seconds ago completely forgotten._

_I suck. I know, there are no explanations just excuses. I'm making no promises on the next update, hopefully a lot quicker than this came._

Edward was silent as he packed everything back into the basket. I decided it was probably best to not question him about the conversation but instead just follow his lead. Once he'd finished packing, he turned around and took my hand, leading me back to the car. He opened my door for me like the gentlemen he was before getting into the driver's seat. We were on the road in moments, the tension in the car high.

I wanted to ask what Alice said exactly, where we were going, what was going to happen, but I didn't want to be annoying. I wished I could display my emotions, the horrified, rampant emotions whirling around inside me, but I knew it would only scare Edward. So I remained silent and prayed nothing went wrong.

The car came to a halt and it was then that I realized I'd shut my eyes. Edward took my hand and squeezed it, "I'm sorry," he said, apologizing for something I wasn't entirely sure of.

I nodded lightly, not trusting my words at the moment. He gave me a small smile before letting go and unbuckling himself. I turned to see that we were stopped in front of an enormous white house. I attempted to admire the beauty of the garden out front while I unbuckled myself but I found it hard to pay attention to detail. Instead I followed Edward up the stone path leading to the house. Once we stood on the wrap-around porch, he stepped forward to ring the bell. I hid behind him and waited for someone to answer.

Only a minute later the door flung open, revealing a disgruntled looking Alice. Her tiny arms were crossed over her chest as she glared at us.

"Alice, you're the one who called me here, do not look at me like that. What do you want?" Edward angrily ground out. The two siblings held each other's gaze for a few moments before Alice responded.

"I want to know what's going on," she replied, her tone icy. I cringed at the sound. This was bad. _So very bad_. Alice hated me. She was going to go straight to her mother and rat us out. And then I'd never be allowed to see Edward again. He'd probably wind up hating me too, because of some far-fetched theory his mother will devise to keep us apart. Why did I ever agree to this? I knew I didn't deserve Edward. Did I actually trick myself into believing I did?

"Alice, sweetheart, you sound so very hostile," Jasper Hale came from the hallway to stand behind Alice. He smiled sweetly at me before nodding his head at Edward as a gesture to come inside, "Why don't we move this conversation into the sitting room?"

"Thanks Jasper," Edward said, pushing past his sister, with me right on his tail. I wasn't sure if he was thanking Jasper for inviting us in or interrupting the starring contest that had been occurring. Either way, I was grateful for his presence. Alice seemed to almost instantly relax.

Edward knew his way around the house, well it was more a mansion, and led us all into the sitting room. Upon one look, I could tell there was a beige theme in the room, with the walls being a light version of the color while the carpets were a dark adaptation. There were two, plush white love seats adorned with tiny little brown pillows, seated across from each other before a white marble fireplace. Edward sat on of the couches and Alice sat across from him. I sat next to Edward, searching around the room to try and focus on anything but Alice and her brother. My eyes settled on a giant statue of a lion settled in the corner of the room. How had I missed it when we initially walked in? For whatever reason that was, it now gave me the opportunity to stare at it and pray that the others would ignore my presence. I had no idea what to say.

Edward had no intention of letting me get away with that. He took my hand in his and stared at his sister, his eyes dark. I had never seen him look so angry before, it was frightening. "Bella and I are dating, we have been for the past month, and we've been speaking and seeing each other ever since Newton's party," he said looking at me fondly for a moment, the darkness in his eyes momentarily gone. I wondered if he was remembering that night and how hostile I had been at first. Who would have thought I would have turned out loving him after all that? _Loving him…_love was such a big word, we'd only been together for a month. We're only kids. How could I think to use that word in this situation? _Because it's the truth,_ a small voice in the back of my head replied. Was it? _Remember what Leah said, why else would you be here?_ So it was. Edward was worth this fight. I loved him. And God, it felt good to say that, even if it only is in my own head.

"Now, whatever you choose to do with this information is up to you, I have no control over that, but what I do have control over is what I do. So you can go and run to mom and tell her I breeched her number one rule, but that will not stop me from seeing Bella. There is nothing you two can do to break us up. I am warning you of that now. With that in mind," Edward said, then rising from the chair, "we will be leaving. It was nice seeing you sister."

"Sit down," Alice growled angrily, obviously annoyed by the tone her brother was using with her. Edward glared back at her, not intending on listening to her. I tugged at his arm, as a wordless suggestion for him to 'please sit.' Edward looked at me pleadingly, it seemed he was ready to leave, but I found it prudent that we stay and at least hear what his sister had to say. I wanted to at least know what his sister was going to do. If a third world war was going to break out over this, I needed to prepare myself first.

Edward huffed when I continued to look at him and sat back down. He didn't meet his sister's glare, so instead she turned to look at me, her eyes softened and she broke into a smile. I was confused by her actions, she looked pleased not angry. "I'm not going to tell me mother," she told to me simply, "Though, I am very hurt my brother couldn't find it in his heart to tell me he had a girlfriend. And I am even more offended that he would think I would go against him and spill the beans to _mom_ of all people about this!"

She was glaring at Edward as she said her last words. When it became obvious Edward was not going to look at her, she turned back to me. "I've always thought the feud between our mother's was ludicrous. I mean honestly, if they can't even tell us what it's really about, it's not like it is anything serious. I'm not about to hold my mother's prejudice. That would just be juvenile and spreading unnecessary hate."

I gapped at her for a moment. She wasn't going to tell? She didn't hate me? It didn't make any sense. Why had she seemed so angry then?

Jasper seemed to sense my confusion, "Alice hates to be left out of things. It makes her feel unimportant."

"Has this really been going on for so long?" Alice asked me curiously.

I nodded my head, "Your brother was relentless in becoming my friend."

"But you're more than friends, for a month now?" she questioned and I suddenly felt as if I as in an interrogation room.

"A month today," I specified.

"Damn! How on earth did this manage to slip past me," she said, turning to look at Jasper. He shrugged. He took her pale little hand into his and squeezed it. I smiled at the gesture, they made a very cute couple.

"You're usually very keen to matters of the heart," he quipped. Her lips twitched up in a smirk and I wondered if there was more to Jasper's statement than he directly said. Alice looked back at me and I was unable to continue my wonderings.

"It's so obvious too, now that I look at you guys and I think back," she groaned as she mentally recollected things. I assumed it had to be slightly obvious that Edward had been involved with someone. He wasn't spending much time at home and we were constantly texting. Leah knew almost instantly, but then again she is my best friend.

"Does anyone else know?"

"Leah," I said and then I remembered Jake and Embry saw us as well. "Jake and Embry too, but they aren't people we would have to worry about."

"No, those are you friends," Alice said, obviously knowing who my crowd was. "Well, I am going to need your number. We are also going to have to set up a day to go to the mall together. Oh, and we should grab dinner afterwards. Yes, that sounds lovely."

I stared at her for a moment, absolutely flabbergasted. Was she suggesting that we were going to hang out? Without Edward there?

"Alice don't be ridiculous," Edward said, finally speaking again, "Bella is not going to become one of your little mall buddies."

"Oh Edward," Alice waved a hand at him, "I just want to get to know my brother's girlfriend. Is that such a bad thing?"

"You're going to scare her," Edward insisted, while looking at his sister knowingly. His suggestion scared me. What was Alice going to do to me at the mall?

"I will not!"

"You can be a bit frightening when at the mall love," Jasper piped in from her side. Alice tossed him a death glare; she then gave her brother one before her eyes landed on me. She was smiling warmly and her eyes danced with mirth.

"Please Bella? I would really like to get to know you, especially since Edward seems so adamant about keeping you around," she begged before jutting out her bottom lip and batting her long, dark eyelashes at me, much like a young child asking their mother if they can play with their favorite toy before bed.

How could I say no to that face? It would be like kicking a puppy. I couldn't do that! I had to agree to go, as scary as it did sound. "Of course," I finally said. Edward shook his head at me, clearly not understanding my reason for agreeing to go.

Alice let out a shriek of joy before leaping up and clapping her tiny hands together. "Oh Bella, you have no idea how happy this makes me!"

"It's my pleasure."

Alice then went into overload, telling me all the details of what we would do at the mall, where we would eat, and things of that nature. Her words were so fast, they blended all together and it sounded like she had begun to speak an entire other language. I attempted to keep up, but it seemed an impossible task, so I stuck with nodding my head at what appeared to be appropriate times and smiling politely. Alice was much like Leah with her enthusiasm, so I wasn't regretting my decision. If anything, this was a very good thing. Though I was breaking my mother's rules, I couldn't help but want to be friends with Alice. Never once had she said anything nasty to me and I'd never heard from others that she spoke ill of me. Everyone always went on and on about how sweet Alice was and I could see it genuinely. She didn't have a bad bone in her body though she was very protective and demanding, she had made that much clear. Most of all, I wanted her approval. I wanted someone in Edward's family to like me, and if it couldn't be his parents, then it was going to be Alice.

"You're a martyr," Edward whispered in my ear. I blushed at his close proximity.

"If I remember correctly, you're the one who was willing to fight his family over me. I'd say you'd be considered a martyr years before me," I said, all the while keeping my eyes focused on Alice, who I swear hadn't taken a breath in over five minutes. She had gotten on the topic of school extracurricular activities and how I should join some. Jasper gave me a look saying 'I deal with this every day, it never ends' and I couldn't stifle a giggle. It went unnoticed by Alice, she just continued on her rant.

"That sounds more like a guy in love to me rather than a martyr," was Edwards smooth reply. I was just about to rely with a witty remark when his words sunk in. _A guy in love…_

Was Edward suggesting he was in love with me? It was preposterous. He couldn't be feeling the same way I was. There was no way this was happening. He obviously misused the word, not even realizing what he had said. He was not telling me he was in love with me. He was simply trying to fight with me. He just wanted to win our little argument, that was it.

Edward saw my frozen expression and he nudged me lightly with his shoulder. "Let's go?"

I nodded, my mind off in another place. Edward turned towards his sister and Jasper, "Alice, as much fun as we're having listening to you, Bella and I are going to go. I'll be sure to give you her number later."

He stood up after saying this, sticking out a hand to help me up. I took it and allowed him to do so. Alice frowned at us before standing too, Jasper following suit. She attacked me with a hug before anyone of us could sense it, "I'm happy for you two. Finally someone's going against this stupid rule."

I smirked at this, hugging her back. "Thank you, it means a lot to me that you're going to keep this quiet."

"Of course," she said sweetly while letting me go. She then hugged Edward, "You should talk to me more often brother. I hate not knowing your life."

"I'm sorry," he said in a tone proving he was "I will keep you more in the loop."

"It was very nice seeing you Bella," Jasper said, being the polite southern gentlemen he was known to be. I smiled back at him, happy that Edward had taken Alice's call.

"It was nice seeing you too Jasper."

"Good seeing you bro," Edward said, shaking hands and doing a weird chest bump with Jasper, the things guys do to avoid hugging each other. I laughed while Edward directed us out of the house.

We were back in the car moments later, sitting silently in Jasper's driveway. Edward was first to break the silence, "I have something for you."

I looked at him questioningly. Though it was our one month, even if that isn't a big anniversary _at all_, I didn't expect anything from him. I hoped it wasn't expensive, because then I would just feel horrible, seeing as I hadn't gotten him a thing in return.

He turned around and began digging around the back of his car, "I remember you telling me this story about back when you were a kid…and," he was struggling to grab something. He won the fight and came up with a medium-sized white bag with purple tissue paper sticking out of it. He handed the bag to me, nodding for me to open it.

I slowly pulled out the tissue paper and then stuck my hand inside and I felt something very soft. The feeling was so familiar I almost dropped the bag._ It couldn't be,_ I thought. Quickly I pulled it out of the bag and was greeted with the sight of Mr. Winkle. I felt like crying. I hadn't seen him in _12 years_, how on earth had Edward found him?

"It was a bit complicated to find him, but when I did and I told the girl our story, she felt so bad she gave him to me right away," Edward explained. "I know it's no jewelry or a pair of UGGs, but I didn't really take you as that kind of girl. I hope you like it."

I threw my arms around his neck and began to cry into the crook of his neck. This was by far the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for me. I could never repay him. How long had it taken him to find Mr. Winkle? It had been so long. It couldn't possibly have been easy. Why on earth would he do such a thing?

"Please tell me this means you're happy," Edward said nervously, wrapping his arms around me and pulling my closer. I shook my head yes, still unable to speak. "Okay good," he whispered before dropping a kiss to my forehead.

I managed to calm down a few moments later and I pulled away from Edward, clutching Mr. Winkle tightly to my chest. "You have no idea how much this means to me, thank you Edward."

Edward gave me his classic crooked grin and my heart melted at the sight. He was too cute for words some times. I was just about to tease him for that when I felt something vibrate in my pocket. I frowned, who could be calling me? Leah knew I was out with Edward, she wouldn't dare interrupt. She enjoyed my recollections far too much. My mom thought Leah and I were studying, so why would she call me? I pulled my phone out of my pocket to see that it was in fact my mother. I looked to Edward before showing him the phone and signaling him to remain quiet. He nodded silently.

I opened the phone and tentatively put it to my ear, "Hello?"

"Oh Bella, thank God I caught you," my mother said quickly into the phone. It was very loud in the background of wherever my mother was, so I assumed she was no longer home. I could hear a voice through the phone, telling people from a San Diego flight where they could claim their luggage.

"Are you at the air port mom?"

"Yes," she said, sounding distracted, "Charlie, go check our bags while I speak with Bella," my mother seemed to have covered the phone, but I was able to make out her muffled words. "Bella?"

"I'm here mom," I rolled my eyes at this. Why would I have hung up?

"We're going to visit Grandma," my mother explained. "I can't believe I forgot it was her and pop's 60th anniversary! I'm the worst daughter some days, I swear," I laughed at this. My mom was anything but a bad daughter. My grandparents thought she was the best thing to walk the planet; they absolutely adored my mother.

"Anyway," she continued, "your father and I are going to spend the weekend with grandma and pop to celebrate. I'm sorry this is so last minute sweetheart. If you can, please try and stay over at the Clearwater's? I have to go; we have to go into the terminal now. Be a good girl!"

With that she hung up. No 'I love you' or 'Have a good weekend'. Then again, my mother wasn't very expressive towards me. I was about to put my phone away when it vibrated once more. I had a text message.

_Love you kiddo, please no parties. Be safe! We'll be home around 8 on Sunday._

_Daddy_

I was very lucky for my father. If it wasn't for him, I would have tried to runaway a hundred times. My mother's controlling, obsessive behavior was too hard to handle sometimes. But I didn't want to think of that. I refused to.

"What did she want?" Edward asked.

"She was just telling me that my dad and her are going to visit my grandparents for the weekend," I explained. I looked out the car window and realized we were still sitting in Jasper's driveway. "We should probably go, Jasper and Alice are most likely wondering why the hell we've been sitting here for so long."

Edward began laughing but nodded his head in agreement. He started the car and pulled into the street before turning to me, "Where to my lady?"

I blushed at his use of words and then thought for a moment. "My house, I guess."

He raised his eyes brows at me but I just shrugged. My parents weren't home. It wasn't like my neighbors knew what Edward's car looked like and they weren't likely to rat me out, even if they did. But why was I suggesting we go back to my house? Could that be giving Edward the wrong impression? I mean, I did love Edward, and the whole Mr. Winkle thing just topped that off, but I wasn't ready for some things just yet. He would be my first and that was a _very_ big deal for me.

We pulled up to my house a few minutes later and the knot in my stomach just kept getting bigger and bigger. As we got out, I noticed my parent's car was gone and I smiled. It was hard believe they trusted me enough to leave me alone for the weekend. It was most likely a lapse in my mother's judgment. Surely starting tomorrow, because today she was focusing on gran and pop, she would be calling me every hour on the hour.

My mother would have a heart attack if she knew what I was doing. But this was worth it. Edward made me happy, happier than I ever imagined I could be. I pressed Mr. Winkle against my chest, still amazed by Edward's surprise. He really was the sweetest guy. I was beyond lucky to have him.

I grabbed his hand and gave it a light squeeze before fishing around in my purse for my keys. "I should probably call Leah and let her know what's going on," I said as I twisted my key in the door and unlocked it, leading us into the main hallway.

"What is going on?" Edward asked as he followed me into the living room. I dropped my bag and turned to look at him._ What was going on?_

I knew what I wanted to happen. But did I dare ask Edward? What if he laughed, called me a prude, and left? _Edward would never_, my mind reprimanded me, _ask him, he'll do anything for you._ With every ounce of courage I had, I bit my lip and asked, "Will you watch a movie with me then spend the night here? I'd hate to sleep in this big old house all alone."

Edward looked slightly shocked at first, probably because of my bluntness, but he regained his composure. A sexy little smirk slid onto his lips and he grabbed me by my waist and pulled me closer to him, "How on earth could I say no to an offer like that?"

My cheeks flushed red as I looked away from him. Edward laughed at this, "You're too cute Bella; of course I'll stay. Though I do hope you're not going to make me watch The Notebook."

"How'd you catch me?" I giggled, having actually had that movie in mind. It was a cute movie and I had always wanted to snuggle up with someone while watching it. Leah said it was utterly romantic when she and Jake had. I found that hard to believe seeing as I could only imagine Leah yapping away the whole movie, telling Jake what was about to happen next while he just stuffed his face with popcorn. Nonetheless, I let my best friend gush and she suggested Edward and I watch it together.

"I am a mind reader," he said while plopping down onto my couch, pulling me down with him. I landed in his lap and he pulled me close to his chest before he pressed a light kiss to my nose. I took advantage of my position and leaned forward, capturing his lips with my own. The kiss was gentle and sweet, which was just like Edward. I felt my hands begin to wander, moving towards his chest and then up his neck and into his beautiful mane of hair. He cupped my face with his warm hands and I melted into the kiss. I would never breathe again if it meant we could keep kissing like this.

But sadly, our need for oxygen arrived. I pulled away, completely out of breath with pink cheeks. I dragged in deep, long breathes to regain normal breathing.

"Alright, you convinced me, we can watch The Notebook," Edward said, raising his hands in defeat. I giggled at this. "Let me just run to the bathroom and we can watch it?"

"I guess that's alright," I said, smirking evilly at him. "That gives me a chance to call Lee and let her know what's up, so we don't get another interrupting phone call."

"Smart idea, I knew there was a reason I loved you," Edward proclaimed while standing. He dropped a kiss to my forehead while I just stared at him. He didn't seem to catch my frozen state before swaying off down the hall and towards my bathroom. How he knew where to go, I had absolutely no idea. I pulled out my phone and dialed Leah instantly.

"Hello," she said after the first ring. Leah was always like that, she never looked before answering her phone. She claimed to always know who was calling her. "What's up Bells?"

"I am at my house," I craned my neck to see if I could hear Edward in the bathroom. I wanted to tell Leah what he said, but I didn't want him overhearing. I wasn't sure how long he would be so after minute of mentally yelling at myself, I decided it would just be better to tell her in person.

"With Edward?" She shrieked into the line.

"Yes, yes now hush and let me explain this to you quickly," I said fast, hoping she would actually let me do so. I was surprised when she didn't say anything back but I assumed that was her way of letting me know I could go on. "My parents are out of town for the weekend. Edward and I are going to watch The Notebook tonight and then he is sleeping over, please don't scream!" I said the last part as fast as possible, knowing Leah would most likely begin to freak out. "I will come over tomorrow and give you a detailed play by play. Love you Lee!"

As if on cue, Edward called my from the hallway, giving me an excuse to hang up. "Bella, can you come here a second?"

"Gotta go Lee, bye," I said in a hushed tone before hanging up. I was bound to get yelled at for that when I saw her tomorrow, but I didn't see it as an issue. She would most likely do the same to me if it were Jake, it wasn't a big deal.

I hopped off the couch, leaving my phone and Mr. Winkle behind and padded into the hallway. Edward was standing there, looking at one of the pictures on the wall. My mother was very big on photographs and paintings, so for all I know he could be looking at a picture of me from when I was five or one of my mother's various French paintings. When I sidled up next to him, I saw he was looking at neither. Instead, he was focusing on a picture of my mother. It was from when she was our age, give or take a few years She was laughing wildly in the photograph. Her blonde hair was wet and there was mud all over the front of her. She didn't look like the same person. My mother, now at least, would never dare let her clothing get dirty. She never laughed like that either, even when she was with my father. This picture showed a different time in my mother's life. It made me wonder what had been so funny.

"I've seen this picture before," Edward spoke after a few moments of examining it.

I looked at him, not understanding what he meant. He had never been in my house before, how could he have seen this picture? It wasn't like my mother had been a model when she was younger and this photo had been featured in a magazine. The quality of the photo wasn't top notch and upon inspection, it didn't make much sense as to why it hung on the wall.

"I don't see how that's possible," I finally said. Edward shook his head at me, obviously disagreeing with me. "Where then?"

"Well, I haven't seen this exact picture before," he admitted and I smiled smugly at that, of course he hadn't. He lifted a finger and pointed at the picture, "You see that white barn in the back though?"

I looked closer. I could make out a barn behind my mother, but it didn't look out of the ordinary, though I did believe most barns were red. "Yeah, what about it?"

"There's a picture of _my_ mom, standing in front of the same barn, laughing just like your mother with mud all over her hanging up in _my_ house."

I gapped at him for a moment. It was a coincidence. Our mothers could have both hung around barns when they were our age. Surely he wasn't suggesting anything. He raised his hand to grab the frame, "Can I?"

I nodded my head, curious as to what he was going to do. He pulled it off the wall and turned it around. He opened the frame up and delicately slid my mother's photo out. It was folded in half. I gasped when I realized this. He turned the picture over and unfolded it, revealing a woman standing next to my mom, laughing just as she was, covered in mud. Her hair was the same beautiful shade of copper as Edward's and her smile was much like his. _It couldn't be…_

"I think our mother's were once best friends," Edward said after a long moment of silence. _Could it be?_

_Again, I apologize and million times over for the fact I haven't updated in five months. I've already started chapter 12 and I'm almost done with my first year of college, so hopefully I can get two chapters out before that and then get on a good updating terms over the summer! I love all of you and I hope someone is still out there reading this._


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